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by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura and Lance are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Canon Divergence, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Homesick Lance (Voltron), I'm Sorry Lance, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Kind of Klangst, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance has Pointy Ears, Langst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2018-12-08 14:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 62,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11648304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: For Lance, home is Cuba. Then, home is with Hunk and Pidge at the Garrison. And now?Now, home is gone.





	1. Every Story Starts Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> My first Voltron fic! I'm excited. And terrified. Wish me luck. Also, if you spot any mistakes (whether they be plot holes or grammatical errors), please tell me!

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

The amount of concern and hesitation alone in Hunk’s voice should be enough to shake Lance from this state he’s in--sly, cool, and confident--but strangely, it doesn’t. And Lance doesn’t know why.

“You heard Commander Iverson,” Lance says, rolling his eyes. “We need to bond as a team. We’re going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls-”

The lights go out. Lance peers around the corner instinctively. Hunk crosses his arms. “Okay, I'm-I’m just, I’m just saying this here, right now, on the record: this is a bad idea.”

Lance darts across the hallway, Hunk following close behind. They flatten themselves against the walls and duck under the windows, peering inside for a few seconds just to see who’s inside.

“You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure,” Lance says, keeping his head lowered. “And besides… I’ve sneaked out of my house three times. _Three!_ Iverson isn’t nearly as scary as my Mamá. We’ll be fine.”

“Okay, firstly, all of your little ‘adventures’ end up with me in the principal’s office. And I’m not good at sneaking! Or secrets! Oh, man.”

“Come on!” Lance says once they crawl past the window. He quickly stands, scurrying towards the trash bins and lifting the lid. He motions for Hunk to get inside.

“No. No way. I am not- hey!” Hunk whines, fighting back as Lance grabs his wrist lightly. Without another word, he scowls and forces himself into a yellow bin, which looks like it’s about to burst.

“Good,” Lance says, patting Hunk’s head appreciatively. He sets the lid on top of the bin and climbs into a small blue bin with ease. Soon, he hears footsteps. 

“What’s that?” Hunk whispers worriedly. Lance can almost imagine how wide Hunk’s eyes are right now.

“Hush! Listen,” He replies, rubbing his ears.

The footsteps grow nearer, and Lance holds his breath. “L-5 north all clear,” a voice says, the static of a radio ripping through the silence. Once the footsteps can no longer be heard, Lance leaps from his spot in the trash bin and dusts himself off. He steps forward cautiously, ready to hide from any lieutenants making their nightly rounds. Hunk struggles his way out of his trash bin and picks himself up, wiping trash off his pant leg. 

“I’m fine,” Hunk says. Lance ignores him and strolls towards Pidge’s room, only to hear it open. Lance quickly grabs Hunk’s collar and throws himself against the wall as quietly as possible, dragging Hunk with him. He peers around the corner and finds Pidge retreating into the light of another hallway.

Lance moves out into the open hallway, his shoulders held back and his eyebrows raised. “Where is he going?” He questions, his voice uncertain. 

Quietly, Lance and Hunk follow Pidge up to the rooftop, where they find their teammate sat upright, computer equipment positioned all around him. A pair of large headphones cover his ears, rendering him unable to hear Lance and Hunk sneak up behind him. Slowly, Lance reaches his hand towards Pidge’s headphones, removing one of them from his ear. “You come up here to rock out?” He quips.

Pidge flinches, letting out a small yelp. He turns to face Lance and Hunk, recognizing them both immediately. “Oh, Lance. Hunk. No, um, just… Lookin’ at the stars,” He says innocently, but Lance recognizes those eyes. They’re the same eyes his older sister makes when she’s about to sneak out. The eyes his little siblings have when they sneak food from his plate. The eyes he sees in the mirror when he decides to sleep instead of study. They’re the eyes of a guilty man.

Lance raises an eyebrow as he scans the equipment set up around Pidge. “Where’d you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.”

Hunk leans forward to inspect Pidge’s computer. Pidge ignores him, leaning back with proud, narrowed eyes. “I built it,” He says, a sly grin on his face. 

“You built all of this?” Hunk says, hand poised and ready to touch Pidge’s equipment. Pidge slaps his hand away, letting out an annoyed sigh.

“Stop it. With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”

Lance scratches his chin. “That right? All the way to Kerberos?”

Pidge freezes, his eyes wide and lips pursed. He frowns.

“You go ballistic every time the instructor brings it up!” Lance juts out his chin, his arms crossed. “What’s your deal?”

“Second warning, Hunk!” Pidge growls at Hunk, who has now taken to fiddling with the satellite sitting at Pidge’s right side. Hunk groans. 

Lance chews his lip, absentmindedly fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. “Look, Pidge. If we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.”

“Fine,” Pidge says, rolling his eyes. His voice sounds hesitant. “The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake…” He says, eyes downcast. Briefly, his vision flicks to a hand--Hunk’s hand--that inches nearer and nearer towards his equipment. _“Stop touching my equipment!”_ Pidge barks.

Hunk rolls onto his side defeatedly. 

“So, I’ve been scanning the system…” Pidge says nervously, “and picking up alien radio chatter.”

“Whoa… What? Aliens?” Hunk sits up at this, his trademark worrying face already equipped.

Lance crosses his arms, a look of understanding on his face. “Okay. So you’re insane. Got it.”

“I’m serious,” Pidge insists. “They keep repeating one word: Voltron.” Pidge holds up a notepad decorated with various drawings. The word “VOLTRON” is scribbled into the middle in bright red pen. “And tonight, it’s going crazier than I’ve ever heard it.”

“How crazy?” Lance asks, sucking in another breath to ask another question. Before he can speak again, an alarm begins to blare loudly in his ears.

“Attention, students!” Iverson’s voice blasts over the PA. “This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: _all students are to remain in the barracks until further notice.”_

Hunk stands, “What’s going on?” He asks, but his question is ignored. Then, he points to the sky. “Is that--a meteor? A… very, _very_ big meteor?”

Pidge grabs his binoculars from his bag and looks through them. “It’s a ship!” He cries, and an unbelieving Lance grabs the binoculars from his hands. Well, not quite. Lance peers through the binoculars, Pidge’s yelping form still attached to them. 

And Pidge is right. A ship shaped like the head of an arrow barrels towards the Garrison, engulfed in flames. “Holy Crow! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That is _not_ one of ours.”

“No…” Pidge says, mouth agape. “It’s one of theirs!”

“So wait,” Hunk stutters, his head following the course of the ship. “There really are aliens out there?”

The ship crashes into the ground behind a wall of rocks, emitting a large burst of bright red right before the ground returns to a pale blue. Lance watches as Garrison ATVs drive out into the desert, presumably to the crash site.

“We’ve gotta see that ship!” Pidge says, running towards the stairwell. Lance follows closely. 

“Hunk, come on!” Lance calls, determined to see that ship. Hunk mumbles something and follows the two.

Once stationed on top of a cliff, the three set up Pidge’s equipment again. Lance lies on the ground, scouting out the area with Pidge’s binoculars. “Woah!” He cries, spotting a fairly large pod that glows purple. “What the heck is that thing?” He zooms in on one of the female guards. “And _who the heck is she?”_

“Lance!” Pidge swats him, causing him to cry out in annoyance.

“Right,” Lance sighs. “Alien ship. Man, we’ll never get past those guards to get a look.”

Hunk throws his hands up. “Aw, man. Yeah, I guess there’s nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?” He stands and tries to walk back to the barracks, but Pidge stops him.

“Wait!” Pidge whispers, “They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!”

Lance and Hunk lean in to see the computer screen, and instantly, Lance feels nausea pool in his gut. Tied down onto a gurney is Takashi Shirogane-- _his hero._

Lance shakes his head, once, twice, thrice. This is impossible. Shiro was lost during the Kerberos Mission. 

“Hey! What are you doing!?” Shiro sounds panicked as he fights against the restraints.

“Calm down, Shiro,” Iverson’s voice says. “We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.”

Shiro doesn’t look like himself anymore. There’s a long scar that runs horizontally across his nose, and for unknown reasons, the once black tuft of hair that hangs over his eyes is a striking white. Lance wonders why. Stress, maybe. Or alien voodoo.

“You have to listen to me!” Shiro grunts. “They destroy worlds! _Aliens are coming!”_

“That’s Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission!” Lance says incredulously. “That guy’s my hero!”

“Guess he’s not dead in space after all,” Hunk says, biting his lip.

“Where’s the rest of the crew?” Pidge asks, his voice quiet.

Lance focuses on the computer feed again.

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Iverson asks.

“I don’t know. Months? Years? Look, there’s no time! Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably already on their way! They’ll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!”

“Voltron!” Pidge says with wide eyes. 

“Sir, take a look at this,” One of the guards says to Iverson. “It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”

Iverson grunts, “Put him under until we know what that thing can do.”

“No! No, no, no, don’t put me under!” Shiro begs. “No! There’s no time!”

“They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew,” Pidge narrows his eyes as Shiro struggles against the restraints with even more energy.

“What are they doing?” Lance questions. “That guy’s a legend! They’re not even going to listen to him?”

“We have to get him out.” Pidge turns to Lance and looks him straight in the eye with determination that Lance has only ever seen in one other person. He shudders at the thought of said nuisance.

“I hate to be the voice of reason, here. Always,” Hunk says. “But weren’t we just watching this on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?”

Lance grins up at Hunk. “That was before we were properly motivated. We’ve just gotta think. Could we tunnel in?”

“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs.” 

“Or we could dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary--get a little late night snack,” Hunk says pleadingly.

Lance glances at Hunk. “No. What we need is a distraction-” He begins, but is quickly cut off by a loud boom.

Explosives are rigged around the desert, and they explode one by one, leaving clouds of smoke in their wake. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk all scream and jump back in surprise.

“Is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!” Hunk cries.

“No. Those explosions were a distraction… For _him!”_ Pidge points at the horizon, where something steadily comes closer. “The Garrison’s headed towards the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side.”

Lance looks through the binoculars and sees a figure hop off a hoverbike. Then, his blood begins to boil. Oh, no. He’d recognize that stupid jacket from a mile away.

“No way!” Lance cries, eyebrows furrowed angrily. “Oh, he is _not_ going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!” Lance bolts forward and starts to slide down the rocks carefully.

“Who is it?” Hunk calls warily after him. 

_“Keith!”_ Lance spits.

“Who?” Pidge watches as Hunk follows Lance, then joins him.

“Are you sure?” Hunk asks doubtfully, and Lance is half-offended that Hunk doesn’t believe him.

“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere,” Lance says as he reaches the ground.

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge shouts.

“Trust me, you do not want to know or be involved with this guy.” Lance bolts towards the tent, running as fast as his legs can take him. Hunk and Pidge struggle to keep up with him.

Unfortunately, they reach the tent right after Keith has somehow taken out the med techs. (Come on, how do you take out a bunch of bulky med students while wearing _go-go boots?)_ Keith cuts Shiro free and lifts him up, struggling to support him himself. _Wimp,_ Lance quips in his mind.

“Nope. No, you- no, no, no, no, no. No you don’t. _I’m_ saving Shiro.” Lance shoves the gurney aside and puts Shiro’s free arm around his neck so that the two are carrying the weight equally.

“Who are you?” Keith raises an eyebrow.

“Who am I? Uh. The name’s _Lance.”_ Lance blinks. “We were in the same class at the Garrison?”

“Really? Are you, uh, an engineer?”

Lance knits his eyebrows. “No, I’m a pilot! We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck…”

“Oh, wait, I remember you,” Keith says. “You’re a cargo pilot.”

Lance feels a pang of hurt in his chest. Seriously, how does Keith not remember him? After everything he did for him? 

“Well, not anymore. I’m fighter-class now, thanks to you washing out.” Lance crosses his arms. 

Keith lifts his head slightly. “Well, congratulations,” He says flatly. 

“Oh, man,” Hunk says from the door. “They’re coming back and they do _not_ look happy. We’ve got to go!” He calls to Lance and Keith, who drag Shiro out of the tent and towards Keith’s hoverbike. “Do you mind if we catch a ride with you?”

Keith doesn’t answer, and Pidge and Hunk take that as a ‘yes.’ They pull Shiro onto the bike and then climb onto the back. Lance hesitates but focuses on keeping Shiro on the bike. He crouches on the side of the bike, holding onto Pidge’s leg for dear life. The bike tilts backward as Hunk clambers onto it. “Uh, is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?”

Keith looks back. _“No.”_

The Garrison ATVs are getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the hoverbike roars to life, and Keith revs the engine. The bike hovers a few feet off the ground before it jerks forward--not slowly, but not quickly, either.

“Why am _I_ holding this guy?” Pidge complains as Lance struggles to make sure Shiro stays put. 

“Shut up, Pidge,” Lance growls, one arm hooked around Hunk’s leg and another gripping Shiro’s arm. He runs a hand through his hair and looks back, spotting the ATVs. They’re gaining on them. “Can’t this thing go any faster?” He shouts.

“We could toss out some non-essential weight,” Keith says. “Big man, lean left!”

Hunk does as told, and the bike tilts. Two of the ATVs crash into each other.

“Big man, lean right!”

The hoverbike sails off one cliff and onto another. The remaining two ATVs attempt to make the jump, but only one of the vehicles comes out unscathed. The other soars into the wall of stone, flipping over ungracefully and rolling to a halt.

“Guys?” Hunk stammers, pointing up a head. “Is that a cliff up ahead?”

_“Oh, no, no, no!”_ Lance panics, and Pidge joins him. Keith only leans forward, and Lance can practically imagine that stupid fucking smirk on his face. Does he think this is a _game?_

“Yup,” Keith says, sounding almost happy about the fact that he’s about to drive off a cliff. 

And then they soar over the edge.

Pidge screams in surprise, leaning backward into Hunk, who’s wailing loudly. Lance, on the other hand, takes a deep breath, swallows every bit of pride he’s ever earned, and lets out a loud, unbecoming shriek.

“¡Todos vamos a morir! ¡Oh, Dios! Todo es _culpa de Keith!”_ Lance screams wildly, gripping Pidge’s hand like it’s his tether to Earth. “What are you doing!? You’re going to kill us _all!”_

“Shut up and trust me!” Keith shouts over the roaring wind as the bike sails down towards the ground. He throttles the engine and brakes.

And somehow, somehow, the bike levels itself out and leaps forward.

Lance’s mouth is agape as Keith drives the bike towards a small shack. He must live here, his mind supplies helpfully, and Lance raises an eyebrow. 

“You live here?” Hunk infers, and Keith nods, parking the bike beside the shack. He jumps off and offers a hand to Lance, who shakily accepts it. Together, they haul Shiro off the bike.

“After I left the Garrison, I figured here was as good a place to live as anywhere else.”

Lance can tell he’s lying, but says nothing and instead helps him drag Shiro inside. They lay him on top of a couch, and Keith drapes a blanket over him. 

“What now?” Pidge asks, looking at Lance, who just sighs. 

“I…” He says, at a loss for words. “I need a minute. To think. And maybe let my Mamá know I’ll be home soon.”

“Soon?” Hunk asks.

“Well, duh. We’re totally getting kicked out of the Garrison.”

Pidge drops his backpack, eyes wide. “You’re right,” He says, turning to Hunk to say something. But almost instantly, he turns on his heel and steps towards Lance, putting a finger on his chest menacingly. “This is your fault. I’m getting kicked out, and it’s _your_ fault.”

“Woah, woah,” Lance narrows his eyes, glancing at Keith and Hunk, who are watching this unfold. “It’s your fault just as much as it’s mine. You think I want to be kicked out? No! I put myself through so much for this, Pidge! I learned to be fluent in English just so I could come here-”

“Lance, do you, uh, want to take that outside?” Hunk asks, tilting his head. “No offense, Keith, but-”

“I get it,” Keith nods. 

Pidge practically drags Lance outside, his long fingernails digging into Lance’s wrist. “Ow!”

“You want to continue?” He asks, slamming the door.

“Yeah,” Lance crosses his arms. “I think I do. The Garrison was my dream. That was my future. There’s nothing for me in Cuba, and there’s nothing else that could _ever_ interest me more than this. Being a pilot was my only option, Pidge! _I just ruined my own life!”_

“I was _so close_ to finding out what happened, Lance! You don’t get to talk like that,” Pidge matches Lance’s stance, crossing his arms as well. 

Lance throws his arms up. “Listen, I’m sorry. But we’re both at fault here. Equally. And acting like total jerks to each other isn’t going to help that.”

Pidge nods disappointedly. “You’re right, I guess. Sorry-”

Pidge’s apology is cut short by the shack’s door opening. “Lance! Pidge!” Hunk calls out. “Shiro’s awake.”


	2. Aliens Are Real--No Biggie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As it turns out, Lance is the _worst. Pilot. Ever._

The conversation between Shiro and Keith outside is quiet. And though Lance has spent years pressed up against walls and closed doors, his stupid ears are of no use right now. “I give up,” Lance groans, backing away from Keith’s door and throwing his hands into the air. 

“You should call your mother while we wait,” Hunk suggests. “Tell her you love her and you’re okay. All that jazz.”

“Plus, I miss her telling me to get more sleep. It was actually kind of comforting.”

Lance grins and reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling his phone from it. He unplugs a pair of earbuds from the phone, stuffs them back into his pockets, and turns it on. “Hey, Siri,” He says quickly, “call my mom.”

Within seconds, the phone is ringing. Lance’s mother picks up on the third ring, and from the way her voice strains, he guesses she’s been crying.

“Where have you been? I got a call from the Garrison saying you weren’t in your dorm, and neither were your friends. Are you okay? Are they okay? Where are you? Lance!?”

Lance rubs the back of his neck. “Mamá,” He says calmly and slowly, “we’re okay. We… We got caught up in some trouble. I need you to know that I’m okay, and hopefully, I’ll be home soon.”

_”We!?”_ Rosa shrieks. “Who are you with? Why are you coming home? What kind of trouble?”

“It’s a long story. I’m safe right now. I’m with Hunk and Pidge. I’m okay, Mamá. I can even have them talk to you, if it helps calm you down.” Lance looks at Hunk, who nods. “I’m giving the phone to Hunk now.”

Lance passes his phone to Hunk, who places it next to his ear reluctantly. Lance understands; when she thinks for even a minute that one of her babies is in trouble, Rosa McClain turns into a tornado of _who, what, when, where, how,_ and _why._

Lance can hear his mother’s voice speaking quickly and smoothly. “No, no, we’re okay,” Hunk insists, but Lance doesn’t think he’s doing a very good job. “It’s a really long story, and once we’re out of this mess, I’m sure Lance will explain everything to you. What’s important for you to know right now is that no matter _what_ the Garrison tells you, as of right now, we’re alive and well.”

Hunk listens to Rosa’s voice for a few more seconds before passing the phone back to Lance, who looks out the window and sees Shiro and Keith walking back to the shack. “I have to go now. But I’ll call you when I can, okay?”

“Okay, Lance. I love you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I love you too, Mamá,” Lance says, a small smile on his face. “I’ll see you soon.”

He ends the call just as the door opens, revealing Keith, who is leading Shiro towards the back of the room. Only then does Lance realize that it’s a sheet. Well, not a _sheet,_ per se, but something large covered by a sheet. Keith pulls the cloth from the object and lets it fall to the ground, revealing a large cork board with pictures, drawings, and a large map in the center.  
“What have you been working on?” Shiro asks in awe.

“I can’t explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of… Lost, and found myself drawn out to this place. It’s like something-some energy was telling me to search.”

_All right, so he’s crazy, too._ Lance’s mind interjects, and he mentally slaps himself.

Shiro turns to Keith. “For what?”

“Well, I didn’t really know at the time. Until I stumbled across this area.” He places his hand near a part of the map that’s circled in black marker. It reads, _“Energy Source!”_

“It’s an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings,” Keith explains. “Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event… Some arrival happening last night. Then, you showed up.” Lance sees Keith cast his gaze downwards before both himself and Shiro turn to face them.

“I should thank you all for getting me out.” Shiro takes a few steps forward and looks Lance in the eye, extending his hand. The… bionic one, Lance notes. “Lance, right?”

Lance hesitates for a split second, put-off by the robotic arm (or whatever that thing is). Then, he remembers that this is still the same Shiro that took the time to meet and shake hands with every single one of the pilots at the Garrison. The same guy that smiled at him and nodded, offering words of encouragement at Lance’s mentions of wanting to be a fighter pilot. 

_What the heck?_ Lance thinks flatly, shaking Shiro’s hand. 

Shiro turns to Pidge and Hunk. “The nervous guy’s Hunk. I’m Pidge,” He says thoughtfully as he shakes Shiro’s hand. “So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?”

“I’m not sure,” Shiro says, a bit of sadness in his voice. “I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it’s just bits and pieces.”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt,” Hunk says, clearly alarmed by the word captured. “But back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? For us?”

“I can’t really put it together. I remember the word ‘Voltron.’ It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but I don’t know why.” Shiro furrows his eyebrows. “Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”

“Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and…” Hunk begins, but Lance spaces out and stops paying attention. He can’t stop thinking about the fact that _aliens are real._ And they captured Shiro.

Does that mean they’ll invade Earth? What if his home is destroyed? Where will his people go? Where will his _family_ go?

He’s brought back into reality by Hunk batting his shoulder with a nervous, “Come on, Lance. I need some help building this Voltron Locator.”

“Yeah,” Lance says quietly. “Got it.”

The next hour is spent in near-silence due to Hunk and Pidge claiming they need to concentrate. The only time anyone speaks is when Hunk asks for a specific tool. Luckily, due to his background (working at the car shop in the summer to pay for his tuition), he knows exactly what Hunk needs and has it ready for him in no time at all.

“All right!” Hunk says, sitting up straight. He holds up a device similar to a satellite and fastens it to Pidge’s backpack. “We’re good to go. Let’s go find that Voltron thing.”

Pidge stands and slips his backpack onto his shoulders, allowing Hunk to lead him outside. Soon, everyone else follows suit. 

They walk for what seems like hours. It’s so hot that Lance doesn’t even try to lighten the mood with jokes. 

Finally, after an eternity and a half, they come across a rocky terrain--a contrast to the flat ground that they’ve been scaling.

The towers of rock in the distance look exactly like the wavelength Hunk found. “Okay,” Lance says, noticing the resemblance, “I admit it. This is _super_ freaky.”

The tracker emits a series of static noises, causing Hunk to hunch over to see the device. “I’m getting a reading,” He says, leading Pidge forwards. Lance follows close behind. They stop near the mouth of a cave (of sorts). “Woah,” Hunk says, beckoning everyone forward. 

Once everyone is inside the cave, Lance wipes the sweat from his forehead. It’s still hot, but the cave is significantly cooler. He mentally curses himself--he’s gotten used to the central heating and industrial air conditioners at the Garrison.

Only then does Lance notice everything around him. His jaw drops, his eyes scanning the walls of the cave that surround him. Carved into the walls are dusty illustrations that look similar to a lion.

“What are these?” Shiro asks in utter consternation.

“These are the lion carvings I was telling you about,” Keith explains hesitantly. “They’re everywhere around here.”

Lance strides up to one of the walls and examines one carving in particular. It’s dusty, rendering him not quite able to see it, so he wipes the dust from the area, thinking nothing of the gesture.

He jumps back in surprise when the carvings begin to glow a bright and brilliant blue. “Woah!”

Lance backs away from the walls and creeps towards everyone else. He catches Keith’s eye--he’s staring up at the carvings, but he glances at Lance for a second. “They’ve never done that before,” He says, and Lance can’t quite tell what tone he’s using. Is that admiration?

The ground seems to crack beneath their feet, and the same blue light that glows through the carvings shoots up from the earth. Lance raises an eyebrow in concern.

And then it crumbles. One by one, everyone falls through the ground and onto an earthen water-slide of sorts. Lance screams in terror, convinced that he’s going to fall into a pit and die. Everything is going too fast for him to register his surroundings, and all he can do is shout. He can hear everyone’s screams around him, and he infers that he, in fact, is at the front; therefore he will be the first to crash to the ground, break his neck, and die.

Lance feels a wave of pain followed by relief when his back hits the ground and his legs fly into the air awkwardly. He feels something wet and cool running around him, finally realizing--it’s water. He’s landed in water. And he’s alive!

Soon enough, Shiro falls down. Then Keith. And finally, Hunk, who has Pidge on his shoulders. A wave of water crashes over everyone.

Wiping the water from his eyes, Lance shakily stands, casting his gaze forward hesitantly. Instantly, he’s met with even more glowing blue light. But this time, it’s different.

Lance gasps, “They _are_ everywhere.”

In front of him is a giant blue mechanical lion. It has glowing yellow eyes, and Lance swears that the cat is looking at him specifically. He watches as everyone else stands and gasps in awe of the lion. 

“Is this it?” Pidge asks nervously. “Is this the Voltron?”

“It… Must be,” Shiro concludes, but it seems more like a question than an answer.

“This is what’s been causing all of this crazy energy out here,” Keith says, walking forward. Lance follows him timidly.

“Looks like there’s a force field around it!” Keith calls, having reached what they’ve now dubbed Voltron.

Lance shivers, feeling the eyes of Voltron staring him down. He steps to the side, but the eyes still follow him. “Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?”

Shiro raises an eyebrow. “No…?”

“Yeah,” Lance squints, “the eyes are totally following me.”

“I wonder how we get through this,” Keith says quietly, placing his hand on the force field, which ripples energy across the dome.

Lance, in need of a sarcastic uplifting, strides up to Voltron, ignoring its powerful stare. “Maybe you just have to knock,” He quips, raising his hand and knocking twice on the force field. A bright flash of blue light bursts from the dome, and Lance sees Voltron’s eyes flash. He yelps in surprise, watching as the force field disintegrates. 

The ground beneath Voltron begins to glow, displaying all of the careful illustrations carved into it. 

Suddenly, Lance feels as if he’s gotten a sudden migraine. An image projects itself in its mind--one that he’s never seen before. It’s of five figures, all different colors, flying together in formation. Suddenly, they all combine, and a warrior stands in their wake. A giant, majestic mechanical guardian that wields a sword of fire.

“Woah,” Lance hears himself say in perfect unison with everyone else. “Uh, did everyone just see that?” He asks.

“Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, _huge,_ awesome robot!” Hunk exclaims.

“And this thing is only one part of it!” Pidge points out excitedly. “I wonder where the rest of them are.”

“This is what they’re looking for,” Shiro confirms everyone’s thoughts, his voice containing an element of wonder and awe to it.

“Incredible,” Keith gasps.

Suddenly, the lion--the one that is definitely not Voltron--bows its head, prompting shrieks of terror from Pidge and Hunk. Lance stands in awe of the lion.

He’s even more shocked when the lion opens its mouth, sliding down a ramp to the ground. _It must want me to go inside,_ Lance thinks. He forces a cocky grin, hums decisively, and chuckles, stepping forward and entering the Lion’s maw. 

Surprisingly, it’s not much: a short hallway that feeds into a single room at the very end on the left side. When he approaches the door, it slides open to reveal a cockpit. “Hm,” Lance says unsurely, inspecting the blue pilot’s chair. It looks comfy--he’ll give the lion that.

Then, seemingly having abandoned all care for procedure, he sits in the chair, crosses his legs, and rests his arms on the armrests. “Here we go,” Lance says confidently, only to emit a loud yelp when the chair automatically scoots forward. His hands hit the controls in front of him, and he grunts, looking up. 

These are _not_ regular controls. Everything is holographic, like in the movies. Everyone crowds around him.

“Huh,” Lance says as the controls in front of him emit little robotic sounds, seemingly on autopilot. Suddenly, the cave appears on the screen, and it’s almost as if he’s looking through the lion’s eyes. Only then does he realize that that’s exactly what’s happening.

“Woah,” Pidge and Hunk say behind him. Lance takes note of the fact that Shiro and Keith stay silent behind him. 

“All right, very nice!” Lance grins, glancing down at the control panel. 

“Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out--just so we’re all aware--we are in some futuristic alien cat head right now.”

And then a feeling overcomes Lance. It feels a bit… Warm, like his Mamá has just taken a blanket out of the dryer and drapes it over his shoulders.

He hears a purring noise and feels almost like falling asleep, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s in a giant blue mechanical lion that could probably kill him at any given moment.

Suddenly, the feeling abates, and Lance feels a shiver run down his spine. “Woah, did you guys just hear that? Or… feel it?”

“Hear what?” Keith asks. 

“I-I think it’s talking to me!” Lance examines the controls displayed in front of him. He taps a few buttons and the lion shifts slightly, letting out a ferocious roar that causes Pidge and Hunk to yelp.

“Okay, got it,” Lance says coolly, placing his hands on the levers he assumes are for flying. “Now, let’s try this.” He pushes one of the levers forward, and suddenly, the lion gracefully leaps into action, flying directly into the cave’s wall and crashing out the other side. Once in the air, it does a flip, roars, and activates some kind of brake at the bottom of its paws, which emit flames to keep it from touching the ground. Then, leaps into the sky once again, tilting slightly.

Screams fill the air, and Lance feels Hunk’s hand pulling his hair. He keeps a straight face and tries to steady the lion, but it’s as if it’s on autopilot. 

Lance chews his lip. He’s a bit embarrassed of Keith and Shiro seeing his piloting this time ‘round, but given the fact that this is an alien ship, he realizes that he must be doing pretty well for a guy who doesn’t know how to fly this thing.

“You are… The worst… Pilot… _Ever!”_ Keith shouts, his voice cracking. Lance knows--no, he hopes that Keith only says this because of the heat of the moment, but that still doesn’t stop the way his chest tightens a bit.

The lion activates its thrusters, and now, it flies forward at full speed. Lance lets out a wimpy scream.

As if the _flying_ isn’t enough, the lion, who Lance has now decided to call Blue, lands on the ground and bounds forward. “Isn’t this awesome?” Lance asks in awe.

Hunk keels over. “Make it stop… _Make it stop!”_

“I’m not making it do anything; it’s like it’s on autopilot!” Lance says, a goofy smile plastered on his face. Suddenly, the lion leaps into the air and begins to fly up towards the clouds. It quickly passes them.

“Where are you going?” Keith questions loudly.

An image flashes in Lance’s mind. It’s a massive ship nearing Earth.

Lance huffs, “I just said it’s on autopilot! It says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we’re supposed to stop it.”

“What did it say, exactly?” Pidge asks flatly.

“Well, it’s not like it’s saying words. More like feeding ideas into my brain… Kind of.”

“Well, if this thing is the weapon they’re coming for, why don’t we just, like, give it to them? Maybe they’ll leave us alone,” Hunk says uncertainly. “Sorry, Lion. Nothing personal.”

“You don’t understand,” Shiro says. “These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying _everything_ in their path. There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is dead.”

Lance stares at Hunk, who wears an uneasy expression. “Oh,” He offers an apologetic smile. “Never mind, then.”

The lion leaves Earth’s atmosphere, letting out a brave roar. Then, Lance sees it--the same gigantic ship that Blue showed him previously. 

Everyone gasps in surprise. “Uh,” They say in unison. 

“Holy Crow! Is that really an alien ship?” Asks Hunk.

Shiro stares at the ship. “They found me,” He says softly.

Lance thinks everything will be fine. Perhaps they could just broadcast a message to the ship and ask them to leave Earth alone--but then the craft begins to fire lasers at Blue. Lance takes this as his sign to high-tail it out of there.

“We’ve got to get it out of here!” Pidge shouts.

“Hang on!” Lance fumbles at the wheel, causing the lion to maneuver in a somewhat smooth manner. Blue dodges the lasers quickly, and Lance is kind of amazed by how fast they’re moving.

Blue moves out of the zone of fire, and Lance fiddles with the controls. “Okay, I think I know what to do,” He says over the shouts of alarm. 

“Be careful, man!” Pidge stares him down. “This isn’t a simulator!”

Lance moves in closer to the lasers, sporting a small smirk. “Well, that’s good. I always wreck the simulators.”

Lance feels almost as if Blue is telling him what to do. Mindlessly, he pushes one of the levers forward, and Blue opens its mouth. A laser shoots out of it, hitting and damaging the alien craft’s side. Lance grins and pulls one of the levers back. “Let’s try… This.”

Blue flies towards the ship and lands on its side, using its claws to dig into the wall. Lance drags the lion across the ship’s surface, somewhat damaging it.

“Nice job, Lance!” Shiro praises as Lance flies away from the ship.

“I think it’s time to get these guys away from our planet,” Lance says, and Blue quickly zips in the opposite direction of Earth. The ship follows them.

“Oh, no!” Hunk shrieks, noticing how close the craft is.

“They’re gaining on us,” Pidge says in an urgent tone of voice.

“It’s weird.” Lance sighs. “They’re not trying to shoot us. They’re just chasing.”

“Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?” Hunk groans. “I am not on board with this new direction, guys.”

“Where are we?” Keith asks, speaking for the first time in quite a few minutes.

“Edge of the solar system,” Shiro gasps as they pass a blue planet. “There’s Kerberos.”

“It takes _months_ for our ships to get out this far!” Pidge says in amazement. “We got out here in _five seconds!”_

Suddenly, something appears directly in front of the lion. It’s like a pool of water, but it’s silver and blue. Lance feels something nudge him and realizes it’s Blue.

“What is _that?”_ Hunk panics.

“Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there!” Lance states. 

“Where does it go?” Pidge asks quietly.

Lance bows his head and softens his voice. “I… I don’t know.” He turns to look at Shiro. “Shiro, you’re the senior officer here. What should we do?”

“Whatever’s happening, the lion knows more than we do,” Shiro says. “I say we trust it, but we’re a team now. We should decide together.”

Lance feels everyone’s eyes on him, and suddenly, Pidge’s hand rests on his shoulder reassuringly. “All right,” He sighs. “Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow.”

The lion leaps forward and enters the strange silver pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so excited about this fic that I finished chapter two just two days after publishing the first part. As usual, please notify me about any errors in my writing!


	3. Having Pointy Ears Doesn't Eradicate Humanness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance did _not_ sign up for this.

Instantly, the lion is overcome by turbulence. Lance forces himself to keep his eyes open, but he can’t see much. Black and blue swirl around Blue as it travels forward faster than ever before.

And then, as quickly as it came, the turbulence abates. Blue bursts through the other end of what Lance is now certain is a wormhole, which quickly collapses in on itself and disappears. Blue slows down, and Lance sighs in relief. Only then does he register what’s in front of him; it’s a planet that looks similar to Earth, but the land masses are disproportionate. _Maybe we just landed in an alternate reality,_ Lance thinks.

“Woah,” Lance breathes. “That was…”

Hunk retches and covers his mouth, then leans over and vomits all over the floor. Lance turns away his head, trying his hardest not to get a whiff of Hunk’s barf. “So sorry,” Hunk gasps, leaning over to vomit yet again.

“I’m just surprised it took this long.” Pidge adjusts his glasses.

Shiro studies the stars intensely. “I don’t recognize any of these constellations,” He furrows his eyebrows. “We must be a long, _long_ way from Earth.”

“The lion seems to want to go to this planet,” Lance says, feeling a burst of warmth in his chest--compliments of Blue. He fights back a smile. “I think… I think it’s going home.”

The lion activates its thrusters and enters the planet’s atmosphere. It soars downward through the clouds, and Lance smiles at the planet’s resemblance to Earth--the skies are almost the exact shade of blue that they are back home.

As the lion gains speed, everyone crowds around Lance, huddling together and probably bracing for impact. “Guys, personal space!” Lance says, smelling something old and foul. “Hunk, your breath is killing me!”

“Um, is it just me, or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?” Hunk bites his lip. “Why are we listening to a robotic lion, anyway?”

Lance narrows his eyes, turning to Hunk. “It got us away from that alien warship, didn’t it?”

Keith steps back, folding his arms. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re _in_ an alien warship.”

Lance smirks. “Oh, are you _scared?”_

Keith frowns, “With you at the helm? _Terrified.”_

Shiro grips one of the many grooves engraved into Blue’s roof. Lance guesses that they’re like the handles installed in the roofs of cars. “All right, knock if off,” Shiro says sternly. “Nobody’s happy to be in this situation, but we’re here now. If we want to get through this, we’ve got to do it together.”

Pidge stares up at Shiro questioningly. “So… What do we do?”

“First, we find out where we’re headed. Lance?” Shiro turns to face Lance.

Lance looks down. “I don’t know.” He looks around at Shiro, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge, who all seem to be waiting expectantly for something. “I’m sorry, the lion’s not talking to me anymore.” Suddenly, Lance gets an idea. “Wait, wait, wait! Sh! Listen, I think I hear something.”

A high-pitched squealing sound fills the room.

“I’m hearing it, too,” Keith says quietly.

“It’s, uh, it’s kind of a… High-pitched squeal?” Hunk says uncertainly.

Lance smirks.

“Ah, Lance!” Pidge shouts, and very quickly, everyone else registers what’s happening. Lance grins.

“But seriously,” He says nonchalantly, pointing ahead, “There’s a castle up ahead.”

Everyone gasps in awe of the sight before them; it’s a pristine white structure that’s even bigger than the lion. 

Lance feels a burst of energy in his chest and instantly recognizes it as Blue. The castle lights up--a beautiful teal color--and seems to shine even more brilliantly now.

The lion lands on solid ground. 

“Keep your guard up,” Shiro says nervously.

Pidge turns his head, “Something wrong?”

“My crew was captured by aliens once,” Shiro replies as everyone turns to leave Blue. Lance gets out of his seat. “I’m not going to let it happen again.”

Lance feels Blue shift, and suddenly, its head is descending so that everyone can leave. Lance follows Shiro down the hallway and out of the lion’s mouth. It feels good to step on solid ground again. 

Suddenly, the lion assumes its normal stance by raising its head. Lance turns to face it while Hunk and Pidge cower behind him. He feels… Safe. He wholeheartedly believes that the lion has no intentions of harming him or anyone else. 

Lance feels yet another round of warmth spreading through his veins. This time, he grins up at the lion as it lets out an ear-splitting roar.

The castle doors behind him begin to glow that brilliant teal color again, and all of a sudden, they slide open.

“Oh,” Hunk says. “The door is… open.” He turns to face Blue with a shaky smile. “Guess I was wrong about you.”

Shiro leads the group as they enter the castle. Despite the lights outside, the interior of the castle is dark; light streams in from outside, revealing dust in the air. Lance marvels at the sheer size of the castle.

“Hello?” Hunk calls out, causing Lance to jump in surprise. His voice echoes, and when he notices everyone staring at him, he just shrugs.

Pidge looks at the stairs quizzically. “From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.”

Suddenly, the room is covered in a blue beam of light that runs from the ceiling to the floor, encasing them in the center of the room. _”Hold for identity scan,”_ A robotic voice says calmly. Rings of light begin to run up everyone’s bodies. 

“Why are you here?” Shiro asks loudly as everyone else gasps in amazement. “What do you want with us?”

The light disappears, and the unlit lamps that line the walls warm to life abruptly, blue flames dancing up out of thin air.

“Whoa,” Lance says in wonder, shoving his hands in his pockets. The lamps slowly light up a hallway, revealing what Lance assumes is a path.

“I guess we’re going that way,” Pidge thinks aloud, and Shiro shrugs, walking forward cautiously. Everyone else follows him.

The walking is _endless._ At one point, Lance’s legs start to ache from walking so much. The worst part of it all is the fact that they walk in complete silence, save for Hunk’s occasional shouts of, _”Hello?”_

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of walking, they come to a stop at a dark gray door. It slides open, revealing a large, open space. In the center of the room is a podium that’s surrounded by markings on the floor.

“Where are we?” Lance thinks aloud as they make their way towards the podium. Pidge puts his hand on it. 

“It’s… Some kind of control room,” He says as the podium lights up and emits a series of short pinging noises.

Three large structures rise up out of the ground. Smoke gathers at Lance’s feet, and all he can do is look at the pods in shock. In two of the pods, there are tall, shadowy figures.

“Are these guys… Dead?” Hunk asks, his eyes wide.

One of the pods lights up, and the blue glass barrier between the figure and Lance disintegrates. The figure, as it turns out, is a tall, young girl with dark skin and long, wavy white hair. She’s very pretty and is clothed in a crown and robes. And only then does Lance notice something else.

Her ears.

They look exactly like his--pointed.

Lance decides to dwell on that thought later, because as of now, the girl opens her eyes and gasps. “Father!” She cries out, falling forward yet bracing for impact. 

Lance rushes forward and catches the girl in his arms. Her arm rests on his shoulder, and she pulls herself up weakly, meeting Lance’s gaze.

“Who are you? Where am I?” The girl asks.

“I’m Lance. And, um, we’re not exactly sure.”

“Your ears,” Allura says quizzically.

“Yeah?” Lance asks.

“You’re obviously Altean, so why don’t you have your markings? What’s wrong?”

Lance pulls away and self-consciously puts his hands on his ears. “My _ears?!”_ He asks defensively. “There’s nothing wrong. What the heck is an Altean? And why would I have markings?” He narrows his eyes.

Instantly, the girl grips his ears and twists his body ‘round, forcing him to kneel. Pain shoots up through his knee. And his ears. His poor, poor ears.

 

“Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?” She asks, spitting questions rapidly.

Lance flinches, “A giant blue lion brought us here! That’s all we know!”

“How do _you_ have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?” She releases Lance, who rubs his ears gently. “What are you all doing here? Unless…” She trails off. “How long has it been?”

“...We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shiro says. “Why don’t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

The girl looks down. “I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea.” She strides forward to the control panel. “I’ve got to find out where we are and how long we’ve been asleep.”

“We?” Lance asks. “Who’s ‘we?’”

Allura turns to him. “There are three pods. I can only assume that my father put me, his royal advisor, and my baby brother all into a cryogenic freezing pod. They should be out soon.”

Allura puts her hands on the control panel, which lights up and displays something similar to a holographic keyboard.

“Okay,” Pidge says, clearly sold by the technology. “That’s how that works.”

The barrier of the pod beside Lance disintegrates, revealing a lanky man with red hair and a moustache. He, too, has ears like Lance’s and strange markings on his cheekbones.

The man opens his eyes and spots Lance. He gasps. “Enemy combatants!” He yells, lunging at Lance, who dodges him. “Oh, quiznak! You’re lucky I have a case of the ol’ sleep chamber knees. Otherwise, I’d grab your head like this,” The man mocks a fight. “Wrap you up like so… One, two, three--sleepytime.” He snaps his fingers.

“Coran, get Lance. His pod should be unlocked by now.”

“Uh, what?” Lance asks.

“My brother, Lance,” Allura deadpans. “This is going to be difficult, as you both share the same name.”

The man--Coran, Lance notes--makes his way over to the third pod and taps on the glass, which vanishes. Inside is nothing. It’s an empty pod.

“Allura?” Coran says quietly. “We have… A bit of a problem.”

“Not now, Coran. Just get Lance while I find out how long we’ve been asleep.”

 _”Allura,”_ Coran says, “The baby is gone.”

Allura’s head whips around, and she fixes her eyes on the empty pod, which only has a single blue blanket inside. “Where could he have gone?” Allura picks up the blanket. “How did he leave?”

A small piece of parchment flutters out from under the blanket. Allura picks it up and reads it. “Coran,” She breathes, “He’s okay. My father… Set his pod to open sixteen years ago. And he was escorted by a ship to a peaceful planet so that he wouldn’t have to live out his life like this.”

“We have to find him, Princess,” Coran says urgently.

“I know,” Allura says, walking over to the podium. “But right now, we have to find out what happened and why the Blue Lion brought these people here.”

She puts her hands back on the control panel, which beeps. “It can’t be…” She gasps.

“What is it?” Coran asks.

Allura responds, her eyes wide, “We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years.” She says. “Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization…”

She narrows her eyes. _”Zarkon.”_

“Zarkon?” Shiro asks.

“He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people.”

Shiro bows his head. “I remember now. I was his prisoner.”

“He’s still alive?” Allura asks disappointedly. “Impossible.”

“I can’t explain it, but it’s true,” Shiro says. “He’s searching for a superweapon called Voltron.”

“He’s searching for it because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him.” Allura crosses her arms. “And that’s exactly why we must find it before he does.”

“I’m going to get you some food, Princess,” Coran says, scuttling out of the room before anyone can tell him not to.

“You,” Allura turns to Lance, making eye contact. “Are you the same race as your friends here? Or are you from different planets?”

 

“I’m human. Everyone here is human,” Lance says, pulling up the hood of his jacket to hide his ears. He tries not to notice the way everyone is looking at him.

Lance has had to put up with ridicule for most of his life. In grade school, nobody wanted to be his friend because they thought he was an elf. Everyone made fun of his _stupid_ ears, and Lance begged his parents endlessly to allow him to have surgery to change the shape of his ears. Unfortunately, with all of his grandmother’s medical bills, there was no extra money to pay for any surgeries.

Hunk was the first person (other than his family) to treat him like a normal human being. Sure, people at the Garrison still looked at him like he was a freak of nature, but he quickly learned that he could hide his insecurities with fake confidence. And thus, Lance “The Tailor” McClain was born.

“Are you _sure?”_ Allura asks.

“Yes,” Lance grumbles coldly, a scowl on his face. “Just because my ears are pointy doesn’t mean I’m not human.”

“Hey,” Hunk puts his hand on Lance’s shoulder gently. “It was just a question.”

Lance says nothing, but leans slightly into Hunk for emotional support.

All of a sudden, Coran bursts into the room with a plate of what looks like green pudding. He offers the plate to Allura, who shakes her head.

“Princess, you must eat. It’s been ten thousand years.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Man, ten thousand years?” Lance asks. “That’s like one thousand plus ten.”

“That’s… _Times_ ten,” Keith corrects.

Lance flushes in embarrassment. “Whatever, dropout. I hate English.”

“Elaborate,” Shiro says.

“I’m from Cuba. English is my second language. You get things confused sometimes,” Lance shrugs.

“I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I’m starving,” Hunk says miserably.

“Yeah, but you’ve thrown up, like, five times.”

“Hm,” Hunk agrees, “good point.”

“I can’t believe your civilization created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago,” Shiro says in admiration. “It must have been an incredible place.”

“Yes,” Coran says, “But now it is gone, and we’re the last two Alteans alive.”

“Save for Lance,” Allura growls. “He’s alive. I know it. We just have to find him.”

Allura’s ears twitch, and she turns to face the pods. She walks over to them. “Looks like we’re not the last, after all,” She smiles, reaching into the pod and taking something out of it. In her hand lay four tiny mice.

“Suddenly, an alarm blares, and an image of a ship similar in design to the one that was near Earth appears on the holographic screen.

“A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran announces.

“How did they find us?” Allura gasps, hurrying back over to the control panel. 

“I’m not sure,” Lance says. “But I bet it’s Keith’s fault.”

Keith crosses his arms. “Say whatever you’ve gotta say to make yourself feel better--after getting us _stuck on the other side of a wormhole.”_

“I’ll stick _you_ in a wormhole!”

“Stow it, cadets!” Shiro places a hand on Lance’s shoulder and pushes him back, and Lance rolls his eyes. “This is no time to place blame. It’s time to work as a team.” He turns to Coran. “How long before they arrive?”

“At their speed?” Coran holds up his fingers. “Oh, well, carry the two… I’d say probably.... A couple of days?”

“Good,” Allura says loudly. “Let them come. By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon’s empire.”

“Princess,” Shiro says cautiously, “there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?”

Allura says nothing, but leads the group and Coran to another room--one that looks a bit like an oversized cockpit. She steps onto something in the center of the room, and instantly, the room lights up.

“This is the Holodeck,” Coran explains, then notices the way everyone is staring at Allura, who is currently bathed in blue light. “King Alfor connected the lions to Allura’s life force. She alone is the key to the lion’s whereabouts.”

Allura bows her head, and instantly, planets and stars appear all around the room. Everyone marvels at the holographic shapes.

“These are… Coordinates,” Pidge observes. “The Black Lion looks like it’s in the same location as the Blue Lion.”

Coran grins. “Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage.”

“Very observant,” Allura notes. “That’s because the Black Lion is in the castle.”

“To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon’s hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the four other lions are present.”

“As you have found, the lions choose their pilots,” Allura says, spreading her arms. “It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.”

Allura waves her hand, and instantly, a small black holographic lion similar to Blue appears. It’s slightly bulkier and has red wings. “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and is in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.”

A green lion that’s smaller than Blue appears. “The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion.”

“The Blue Lion is courageous and the friendliest of all the lions. Its pilot must be able to adapt to every situation and show bravery in the darkest of times. Someone who can be a shoulder to lean on. Lance, you will pilot the Blue Lion.”

Lance looks at the small holographic copy of Blue and holds out his hand, his fingers cutting through the hologram. He smiles softly.

“The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of other above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.” Allura sends a bulky yellow lion about the size of Blue towards Hunk, who looks around and points at himself questioningly.

“The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.”

A smaller red lion flies towards Keith. 

“What? This guy?” Lance smirks. He catches Keith glaring at him in his peripheral vision.

“Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion’s coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After ten thousand years, it _might_ need some work.”

“Don’t worry,” Coran says, straightening his jacket. “They don’t call me the ‘Coranic’ for nothing.” When he’s met with no response, he offers an explanation, “It’s because it sounds like ‘mechanic.’ Coranic, mechanic. It’s not--it doesn’t sound exactly like it. It’s similar.”

Suddenly, the lions roar and bound away from their pilots, flying in formation. “Whoa,” Lance murmurs.

“Once all the lions are united,” Allura says confidently, “you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known--the Defender of the Universe!”

The lions combine and form a huge, towering soldier that’s almost taller than the castle’s ceiling. Then, the hologram fades.

“Awesome,” Lance breathes.

“Wait, okay, we’re going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?”

“We don’t have much time,” Shiro interrupts. “Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, you stay here. If you locate the Red Lion, go get it.”

“In the meantime, I’ll go get this castle’s defenses ready. They’ll be sorely needed.”

“I’ll ready a pod and load the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion.”

“Okay,” Lance says. “Ready, Hunk?” 

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Which actually isn’t too ready,” Hunk fiddles with the end of his vest.

Lance grabs Hunk’s arm and pulls him along, walking forward confidently. 

He can do this. He can totally do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season three came out today and I cried. Yikes.


	4. Near-Death Experiences and Lots of Spaceships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forming Voltron? Never heard of her.

Lance totally _cannot_ do this.

The second they reach the planet containing Hunk’s lion, they’re targeted by ships that Lance assumes are Galra-operated. Lance manages to both tune out Hunk’s screaming, dodge the enemy missiles, and avoid crashing. 

The lion shudders and drops, having just been hit by a missile. Lance and Hunk both yell as Blue hurtles downwards. 

“I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!” Hunk shouts.

“Maybe ‘peaceful’ means something else in Altean!” Lance replies, struggling to steady the lion just before it hits the ground. Activating its thrusters, Lance’s lion surges forward and maneuvers its way through a canyon, all the while being shot at by soldiers on the ground.

Hunk checks his scanner. “According to the coordinates, we’re right on top of the Yellow Lion. It’s below there, where they’re mining for the ore. They don’t even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got there and they’re digging for the lion?” Hunk rambles. “What do you think, Lance?”

Lance turns to face Hunk. “Who cares? Just go get it!” He says quickly. “I’m dropping you down there.”

“Me?” Hunk says. He sounds alarmed. “Down there? No. No, no, no.”

“Yes!” Lance says, clearly annoyed. “I’ll cover you.”

Lance lands Blue near a small mine that’s surrounded by Galra sentries, all of whom are shooting at the lion. It bounds forward, crushing sentries under its huge paws.

“What if the Yellow Lion doesn’t work? What if I can’t get in the mine?” Hunk panics. “What if I start crying? Too late! I’m already crying!” 

“Sorry, no time for questions,” Lance yells. “You’ll do fine, buddy.”

And with that, he presses a button on Blue’s dash and ejects Hunk out of the lion’s mouth. Hunk somersaults forward, not stopping until he reaches the mine. Lance maneuvers Blue so that it faces the soldiers and rushes forward, smashing the sentries and firing lasers at the ships that surround him above.

Once all of the sentries are gone, Lance turns his attention towards the small cruisers hovering a couple hundred feet above him and targets them. He pushes a lever forward, and Blue leaps into the air, headed straight for the ships. He fires a couple of lasers from Blue’s tail, but it only hits one of the ships and doesn’t do much damage. 

Lance grabs another ship in Blue’s mouth and crushes it, only noticing that the other three ships are headed towards the mine. “Oh, no…” He murmurs, powering up Blue’s thrusters to catch the ships. He fires Blue’s mouth cannon a couple of times, but they don’t hit their desired targets. The cruisers launch a volley of lasers at the mine.

He fires one last laser, which destroys one of the ships, but not before it fires a rocket at the mine. Lance’s eyes widen. _”Hunk!”_ He cries. 

The missile collides with the cavern wall and the mine goes up in smoke. 

No. No, Hunk can’t be dead. He can’t die. 

Lance shakes, sweat rolling down his face and mixing with tears. _“NO!”_ He screams, surging forward and attacking the cruisers at full force. He will avenge Hunk if it’s the last thing he ever does.

This proves to be quite a bad decision. Blue certainly can’t fight off three ships at once, and is quickly attacked by an array of lasers and missiles. Lance turns and flies away, hoping to lead them away from the mine. 

“Hunk, come on! Please, buddy!” Lance shouts uselessly. Suddenly, Blue jerks forward and is hit by a laser. It turns and is hit yet again, this time unable to withstand the hit. Blue shudders and hurtles towards the ground at an alarming speed. 

“Oh, no! No, no, no, no! We’re going down!” Lance screams, jerking the controls wildly and eliciting no response whatsoever from Blue. 

The lion collides with the ground and tumbles repeatedly, rolling around over and over again. Finally, Lance steadies the lion and gets it upright. An alarm blares loudly. Lance raises his head and sees that the Galra cruisers are flying towards him at full speed. “Oh, no,” He whispers as one of them fires two missiles at him. They dance around each other, hurtling towards his lion.

Lance turns his head, bracing for impact.

But nothing comes.

Instead, a heavyset yellow lion erupts from the ground, taking the full impact. It shudders but stands its ground. Then, it bounds forward and jumps onto the cruisers, effectively squashing them.

“You okay, Lance?” Hunk’s voice crackles over the comm. One of the ships fall off his lion’s chin. 

“Hunk! I thought you were dead!” Lance cries in relief. He wipes his eyes. “You jumped in front of those shots to save my life!”

“Well, actually, I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what thing lacks in speed, it _more_ than makes up for in armor. Man, can it take a beating!”

Lance hears the sound of shooting and notices more Galra cruisers headed their way, firing lasers rapidly.

“We’ve got incoming!” Hunk says urgently.

Allura’s face appears on Lance’s screen. “Paladins, please hurry back. I can’t hold the wormhole much longer.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Lance says, pulling back a lever and launching Blue into the air. Hunk follows close behind, and together, they fly toward the wormhole, which disappears the second they enter it.

After returning their lions to their new hangars, Lance and Hunk stumble into the Holodeck, groaning tiredly.

“You made it,” Allura chirps happily.

“Yeah, just barely,” Lance says, stretching his shoulder. “That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there--I felt like Hunk.”

“Think how I felt,” Hunk scratches his head. “I _am_ Hunk.”

“Yeah, we had a tough time, too,” Pidge says. He grins at Shiro for reasons unknown.

“Did we find the Red Lion yet?” Shiro asks. 

Coran steps forward. “Allura just located it. There’s a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is that the Red Lion is nearby,” He fiddles with his moustache. “The bad news is that it’s on a Galra ship now orbiting Arus.” He perks up, “But wait, good news again! _We’re_ Arus!”

“They’re here already?” Shiro’s eyes widen.

“Yes,” Coran confirms. “Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting… It’s more of an art than a science.”

A staticky sound fills the room, and suddenly, a huge screen appears in front of Allura.

The person on screen is _definitely_ not human. He’s purple, furry, and has huge, fluffy ears that look similar to those of a bobcat. He has narrow, bright yellow eyes that don’t have pupils--well, a narrow, yellow eye that doesn’t have a pupil. His other eye is a red mechanical implant. It seems like he has a permanent scowl etched onto his mouth.

“Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I _will_ destroy your planet.”

The broadcast ends.

“All right,” Shiro says calmly, “let’s not panic.”

 _”Not panic?”_ Hunk flinches. “The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us! We only have four lions--”

“--Technically, only three working lions,” Pidge interrupts, crossing his arms.

“That’s right.” Hunk stumbles forward tiredly. “Thank you, Pidge,” He says, putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. _”Three_ working lions and a castle that’s, like, ten thousand years old!”

“Actually, it’s ten thousand, six hundred years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather--”

“Thanks, Coran,” Hunk cuts in. “Thank you for that. See?” He turns to Shiro worriedly. “Now is the perfect time to panic!”

“Wait!” Allura says, and it’s clear she’s thinking hard. “This castle has a particle barrier that we can activate.”

Coran pulls up a diagram of the Galra ship orbiting Arus. “The particle barrier won’t hold Sendak’s ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.”

“Panic now?” Hunk asks.

“No,” Shiro shakes his head. “We’ve just got to figure out our plan of action--and figure it out quickly.”

“I say we pop through the wormhole and live to fight another day,” Lance says.

“I second that, yes,” Hunk shrugs. “We tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the good old college try. Couldn’t do it. We only have three; we can’t form Voltron. I mean, I guess we could form a snake… Or a worm…”

“We can’t just abandon Arus!” Pidge seethes. “The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them.”

“Okay, if we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone,” Hunk says coolly. “Like when we left Earth.”

“Sendak could destroy the planet and come after us anyway. And there are probably inhabitants on this planet. Staying is our only option,” Keith argues.

There’s life on this planet. Lance completely forgot.

A boundary has already begun to form--Hunk and Lance on one side, Keith and Pidge on the other. Lance crosses over the line and stands by Keith.

“But--” Hunk begins.

“We’re staying!” Keith says angrily.

“Leaving!” Hunk squints.

“Staying!” A chorus of three replies back loudly.

“Guys, stop!” Shiro shouts. “Princess Allura, these are your lions. You’ve dealt with the Galra Empire before.

Allura bows her head, takes a deep breath, and looks up again. Her face is a paragon of stone-cold determination. “We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope,” She says slowly. _”We_ are the universe’s only hope.”

“We’re with you, Princess,” Shiro nods.

“Come with me,” Allura says, beckoning everyone towards her. She leads them into a large room that has pods similar to the ones that Allura and Coran were in. The pods hold five strange sets of gear that are decorated with white and a single solid color. Each set has a different color.

“Your suits of armor,” Allura says happily. Instantly, everyone flocks to their respective color; Lance practically runs to the blue suit of armor. It looks almost like it was made to fit him--whoever the previous blue paladin was, they were tall and lanky, just like him.

Lance hears Allura and Coran talking quietly behind him, but he tunes them out and instead continues to stare at his armor. 

“Boys, it’s time to suit up,” Shiro says. He sounds extremely confident in himself--it’s a nice change from all of the tones he’s used in the past couple of hours.

Lance grins and opens the pod, taking out the undershirt and discarding his jacket. He quickly puts on his breastplate, and though he struggles with the pants, he manages to do it and equips his gauntlet. Lance puts on his boots and slides his helmet on, then looks at himself in the pod, a hand placed on his hip.

Damn. He looks _good._

Allura places her hand on a wide podium that protrudes from the floor. It lights up, and suddenly, the top of the podium disappears, revealing four small objects with what Lance assumes are grips.

“The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron,” Allura explains. The bayards begin to levitate towards everyone, each one hovering towards its respective paladin. “It takes a distinctive shape for each paladin.”

Lance reaches out for his bayard hesitantly, noticing that everyone else has done the same. Hunk’s turns into a heavy energy cannon. Keith’s turns into a sword, and his gauntlet activates and turns into a shield as well. Pidge’s turns into a katar of sorts, which glows green at the edges and intimidates Lance. Lance notices that Shiro doesn’t have a bayard.

Lance wraps his fingers around the grip of his bayard. Instantly, it turns into a blue, black, and white rifle. Lance pumps his fist and brings the gun up to his shoulder. It’s comfortable and just his size. He’s beyond ecstatic--the rifle training that he got at the Garrison was by far his favorite class. He loved being the top student in the class, even if it was just an elective.

He glances at Pidge with a grin. “Aw, you got a cute little bayard!”

Pidge frowns and jerks his arm out, hitting Lance with the bayard. Instantly, a jolt runs through his body, and Lance tenses, letting out a loud yelp of pain. He falls to the ground with a graceful, _”Oof!”_

The bastard electrocuted him.

“Yeah, it is pretty cute,” Pidge smirks.

Lance groans and picks himself up, focusing on Allura and Shiro, who are chatting. 

“Shiro, I’m afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin,” Allura says apologetically.

Shiro offers a forced grin, “I guess I’ll just have to make do.”

Allura leads the paladins back to the Holodeck, where she pulls up a map of the Galra ship. “You’ll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak’s ship,” Allura says.

“That’s a pretty big ship,” Keith interrupts. “How are we going to know where the Red Lion is?”

Pidge turns to him. “Well, it’s not a matter of _’we.’_ It’s a matter of _you,”_ He explains.

“Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you’ll be able to feel its presence and, like, track it down,” Says Hunk.

“Yeah!” Lance confirms. “You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?”

“Yeah,” Keith nods, “you made fun of me for that.”

Lance smirks, “And I’m proud of that. But turns out, it’s exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.”

“Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You’ll have to earn its respect,” Allura points out to Keith, who nods. 

Shiro puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “All right. The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don’t know we have the Green Lion, too. Hunk, Lance, you’ll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up. While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon.”

After receiving confirmations from everyone, Shiro and Keith follow Pidge to his hangar. Lance and Hunk make their way down to their hangars and meet with Pidge outside the castle.

“Ready?” Asks Shiro, who receives a lively duet of, _”Yeah!”_ in response.

The flight towards Sendak’s ship is long and tedious. Nobody talks, and Lance assumes it’s because everyone is nervous. This _is_ a battle cruiser, after all.

Once Lance and Hunk finally reach the Galra ship, they broadcast a message to Sendak and his crew. 

“Attention, Galra ship: do not fire. We’re surrendering our lions,” Lance says, and without another word, he ends the broadcast. “Hope this works,” He murmurs, receiving a short hum of agreement from Hunk.

Something on the ship slides open, and Lance assumes they’re doors. He opens the comm line again. “Pidge, what’s your ETA?”

“We’re in,” Pidge whispers back.

Something inside the ship begins to glow, and Lance can’t tell if the light is white or purple.

“What’s that thing?” Hunk asks worriedly.

“I think that’s our signal to get out of here!” Lance says, flying Blue away from the ship. Just as he and Hunk pull away, burst of purple light emits from the cruiser. It’s a tractor beam.

Within seconds, small fighter planes fly from the Galra ship and begin firing at Hunk and Lance.

“Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride,” Lance says with a grin.

“Ten-four!” Hunk replies, flying towards the ion cannon full-force.

Lance activates Blue’s thrusters and flies towards the mini-cruisers, maneuvering between them and leading them away from Hunk.

He glides through space, doing somersaults in his lion and shooting at the cruisers occasionally with Blue’s tail laser. “Woah! _Yeah!_ This is way more fun without Hunk’s barfing!” Lance grins to himself. He sees Hunk crash into some kind of barrier in his peripheral vision and leads the planes even further away.

Lance eventually takes out all of the mini-cruisers and goes to help Hunk, only to find that he’s broken the ion cannon already. He sees a red lion fly up from behind the Galra ship. It’s slightly smaller than Blue.

“You guys made it!” Hunk chirps over the comm line.

“Kitty Rose has left the stage,” Pidge says happily, causing Lance to chuckle.

“Let’s get the heck out of here,” Lance says contently. 

“I hope I stopped that cannon,” Hunk says apprehensively. “I could barely make a dent in it.”

After returning to Arus, everyone lands their lions in their hangars. Shiro stands before a huge door--behind it is the Black Lion.

Lance sees the other lions’ eyes light up slowly and feels Blue nudge his side gently. The door lifts slowly, revealing a gigantic black lion with red and white wings. Lance’s eyes widen at the sheer size of the lion.

The Black Lion’s eyes light up and it roars, prompting a chorus of roars from the other four lions. Lance grins as Shiro enters his lion.

Suddenly, the moment is ruined by an alarm sounding and echoing throughout the castle.

“Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere,” Allura says worriedly. “We need Voltron _now!”_

The Black Lion lets out yet another deafening roar and leaps into the air, flying out of its hangar and into the sky. The other lions follow and land on the ground in front of the castle. 

Sendak’s ion cannon powers up and fires, hitting the castle’s particle barrier and swirling around it in flames. Even the lions are affected by the blast and struggle to stay upright.

“Man, those Galra guys repair things fast,” Hunk grumbles.

Lance hears Coran’s voice in the background but can’t quite make out what he’s saying.

“I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you _have_ to form Voltron _now,_ or we’ll all be destroyed!” Allura says.

“Jeez, no pressure,” Hunk says under his breath, but Lance can still hear him, so he’s pretty sure the rest of the team can hear Hunk too.

The ion cannon fires again and hits the castle.

“Listen up, Team Voltron!” Shiro says loudly. “The only way to succeed is to give it all you’ve got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?”

Lance nods.

“I’m nodding. Is everyone else nodding?” Hunk asks.

“Yes,” Everyone responds monotonously.

“Let’s do this!” Shiro calls, charging his lion forward. Everyone follows. 

“Uh, how?” Lance asks as they pass through the particle barrier.

“Good question,” Shiro says. “Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?”

“I don’t see a _’combine into giant robot’_ button anywhere on my dashboard,” Hunk says.

The lions reach the edge of the castle’s bridge and jump off, flying downward and landing on the ground below.

“This is insane!” Pidge shrieks, dodging lasers form a mini-cruiser. “Can’t they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out?” He jumps up and grabs the cruiser in his lion’s mouth, then throws it straight into another cruiser. “Is that too much to ask?”

“We’ve got to do _something!”_ Keith groans, stopping his lion. Hunk crashes his lion into Keith’s.

“Combine!” Hunk yells, knocking the Red Lion back.

“Hey!” Keith grunts.

Lance can imagine Hunk’s shrug as he murmurs, “Well, that didn’t work.”

Allura’s face appears on the screen. She looks even more stressed than when Lance last saw her. “Quickly, Paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!”

“Maybe if we fly in formation, we’ll just… Combine!” Shiro says. “Take off on my cue!”

“One… Two… Three!” Shiro shouts. “Voltron!” He says as the lions take flight.

“Here we go,” Keith grunts.

“Come on, come on!” Lance groans.

“Nothing’s happening!” Shiro responds defeatedly.

Lance feels something--a force, maybe--pulling his lion. He searches for some kind of feeling from Blue to tell him that this is normal, but finds nothing. “Hey, wait! I feel something.”

“I do, too! It’s like we’re all being pulled in the same direction,” Hunk agrees.

“Uh, guys, I think I know why!” Shiro interrupts. “Look up!”

Lance does as told and is met with the sight of his lion flying very slowly towards Sendak’s ship. Then, it hits him: they’re trapped in the tractor beam.

Instantly, his lion goes cold. He senses Blue’s presence, but it’s a cold, icy feeling in his chest. His heart catches in his throat. 

“Sendak’s ship is sucking us in like a black hole!” Pidge shouts.

Sendak’s ship fires the ion cannon one last time, and the castle’s particle barrier is no more.

“I don’t care what you say, Shiro!” Hunk rambles, “I’m panicking now!”

The comm line is filled with Hunk’s yelling as the lions are pulled in closer to the Galra ship.

“It can’t end here!” Pidge says expectantly.

“This is it!” Lance’s voice cracks.

“It’s been an honor flying with you boys,” Keith grunts.

Lance closes his eyes and searches for some kind of motivation from Blue. Something that will tell him to keep fighting--that he can’t give up yet.

He finds nothing.

“No!” Shiro shouts. “We can do this! We have to believe in ourselves!” He says, voice laced with determination. “We can’t give up! We are the universe’s _only hope! Everyone_ is relying on us. We can’t fail! We _won’t_ fail!” Lance feels a bit of hope return to him. “If we work together, we’ll win together!”

Almost instantly, everyone simultaneously shouts, _”Yeah!_

Lance feels something ignite in his chest. Something different than what he’s felt from Blue--this is entirely new. It’s hope. Determination. Persistence. And above all, it’s this desire--a calling, perhaps--to protect and defend those in need.

This is Voltron.

Without warnings to their pilots, the lions break free from the tractor beam and shoot off in opposite directions. Blue is flying faster than Lance has ever gone before, and he can barely make out what he’s seeing. His lion begins to fly corkscrews around a flurry of yellow (Hunk, Lance believes).

Lance can feel Blue shifting. Her legs are now being retracted, and she’s coming together with the other lions to form Voltron. Blue shudders, and suddenly, before Lance’s very eyes, Voltron has been formed.

Before Lance can figure out what the hell is going on, Voltron’s fist is halfway through Sendak’s ship. And then the shock settles in.

“I can’t believe it!” Keith says, showing more emotion in his voice than Lance has ever heard.

“We formed Voltron!” Pidge shouts in delight.

“I’m a _leg!”_ Hunk sounds disbelieving.

“How are we doing this?” Lance murmurs incredulously.

“I don’t know, but let’s get that cannon!” Shiro says, and Voltron lunges forward, grabbing the cannon and quite literally ripping it out of Sendak’s ship. It tosses it aside and activates a laser, which effectively burns a hole through the cruiser. It repeats this again and again before charging headfirst at the ship and passing through it.

Voltron lands on the ground, and Lance watches as the remains of Sendak’s ship explode.

Once they’ve all returned their lions to their hangars, the paladins return to the castle and are met with an ecstatic Allura.

“Good work, Paladins!” She chirps.

“We did it,” Shiro says proudly as Lance takes off his helmet.

“Heck yeah, we did,” Keith confirms happily.

“How did we do it?” Shiro’s tone is a bit disbelieving.

Hunk pulls off his helmet, “I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it.”

Shiro puts a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “We’re not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they’d be proud of you.”

Pidge smiles at Shiro. Lance has no idea what’s going on, but he doesn’t ask in fear of intruding on their moment.

Allura’s demeanor changes from happy to serious in a split second. “We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I’m afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions.”

“Good thing you paladins know what you’re doing, because you’re going to have to form Voltron again and again.”

“Totally,” Hunk says passively. Then, he realizes what Coran is saying. “Wait, what?”’

“We barely survived forming Voltron this one time,” Lance rubs his eyes.

“Oh, and you only had to fight _one_ ship! Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It’s not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe.”

Everyone’s eyes widen.

“Defenders of the Universe, huh?” Shiro asks, a small smile on his face. “That’s got a nice ring to it.”

The paladins turn to look at their lions, and Lance is pretty sure that the burst of warmth in his chest sent by his lion is felt by everyone else, too.

-

Sleep has never been something that comes naturally to Lance. Which is why he’s surprised that he’s drifting off so quickly.

Unfortunately, his near-slumber is disturbed by three knocks on his door. Lance groggily gets out of bed and stretches, going to his door, which slides open smoothly.

It’s Allura.

“I was just… Wondering,” Allura says, “about something.”

Lance crosses his arms, frowning already. “Is that ‘something’ about my ears?”

“I have a sneaking suspicion that your heritage isn’t as human as you believe.”

“Allura, I can promise you this: I am not your brother. It’s just a coincidence that I’m here,” Lance sighs.

“Is it, though?” Allura counters. “Is it really a coincidence that you share a name? Is it a coincidence that you have Altean ears? Or that _you,_ of all people, were brought here by the Blue Lion?”

“Yes!” Lance furrows his eyebrows.

“How old are you, Lance?” Allura seethes.

“Sixteen and a half,” Lance answers.

“My brother was just an infant when we were put in the cryopods,” Allura says. “Sixteen years ago, the castle sent him to a peaceful planet so that he could live out a normal life before returning to the castle.”

“I am _not_ your brother!” Lance says suddenly. “Allura, I swear to you, I’m human. That’s it. Nothing else. Please, Allura, believe me,” Lance pleads.

Allura hangs her head and sighs. “I’ll believe you for now. But expect a DNA analysis from Coran soon,” She says.

Lance sighs and nods.

“Goodnight, Lance,” Allura turns and walks back towards her room. “Sleep well.”

“You too,” Lance says softly, not even sure if Allura can hear him. He turns and falls onto his bed, hearing the satisfying sound of his doors closing. He nestles himself in his blankets once again and closes his eyes, but he’s no longer tired. 

This will be a long, _long_ night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School for me is starting soon, so I may be forced to just update once every 1-2 weeks or so. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Lance Isn't Really As Human As He Seems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance finds out something about himself that he never would have previously known.

Lance wakes to the sound of a blaring alarm. “Fuck my life,” He mutters before listening to the intercom.

“Everybody up! Zarkon’s attacking!” Allura shouts. “The castle’s about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron _now!”_

Lance rushes out of his room in a blue robe and slippers with the Blue Lion on them. Whoever the previous blue paladin was, they were just as big of a nerd as Lance is.

“Hurry! We can’t survive much longer!” Allura yells as Lance sprints down the hallway. He trips on his own two feet and falls onto his nose, which causes it to begin bleeding. He ignores his new injury and continues his search for the Holodeck.

Suddenly, Coran’s voice replaces Allura’s. “Oh, no! Allura is dead! Oh, it’s horrible--her head fell off!”

Lance reaches the Holodeck and steps inside, panting and holding his nose. He’s met with the sight of Coran being dramatic.

“Wait, what?” Coran bends down so that he’s crouching, “Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura’s head? What are your final words?”

Allura turns and is met with the paladins all looking at Coran, none of them amused in the slightest. “Coran,” She sighs, clearly annoyed.

“Yes, Princess, I’m listening!”

“It’s over.”

“Oh, I know!” Coran wails, “If only Voltron had been formed…” He turns to face the paladins and opens his eyes, noticing them immediately. He stands up. “Oh! Time!”

“I guess this isn’t an actual attack,” Shiro infers.

“And it’s a good thing it wasn’t, because it took you…” Allura turns to her royal advisor. “Coran?”

“Seventy-five degrees,” Coran says disappointedly. “Oh, sorry. This is a meat thermometer.”

“However long it was,” Allura sighs, “it was too long. You must _always_ be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform! And Lance, what happened to your nose?”

Lance is suddenly aware that everyone is focused on him as he nurses his nose. “I tripped,” He shrugs apologetically.

Allura rolls her eyes. “Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Lance,” She says coolly, “where are your bayards?”

“Hey,” Hunk yawns. “You got to sleep for ten thousand years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I’ve flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle… That’s a lot to process in--uh, I don’t know. What day is today?”

“It’s the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!” Coran says happily.

“It’s a lot to process,” Hunk repeats.

“You must understand the stakes of our mission,” Allura says. She pulls up something on the computer system, and suddenly, the room is filled with an array of blue holographic planets. “Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations.” The some of planets turn red. “So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe.”

She moves towards a small section of planets and points to a particular one. It’s near the barrier of blue and red--free and conquered, Lance guesses. “Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable.”

Lance goes tense and bites the inside of his cheek to keep from yelling. There is absolutely _no_ way he’ll let Zarkon conquer Earth. His people. His _family._ Zarkon will have to kill him before he even considers landing on earth.

“Oh, no,” Hunk murmurs, and Lance is surprised he’s even able to speak.

“Exactly,” Allura confirms. “Our mission is to free _all_ those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon.”

“The Princess is right,” Shiro nods. “Let’s get to our lions and start training.”

“Wait!” Pidge turns to him. “But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship!”

Coran bends over so that he’s level with Pidge. “Negative, Number Five. I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow.”

“But what about Lance’s nose?” Hunk asks. 

Lance rolls his eyes. “I’m fine! It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Pidge looks him dead in the eye. “You had a slight cough and stayed in the infirmary for a week before--”

Lance cover’s Pidge’s mouth. “Nope. _Nothing I can’t handle, Pidge.”_

“Gross!” Pidge shrieks, recoiling. “Get your nosebleed hand away from me!” 

Lance grins. 

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” Shiro asks.

“Yeah, man. I’m fine,” Lance shrugs.

“All right. Get to your lions,” Allura orders.

Everyone turns to walk towards their hangar doors. Lance feels a hand on his shoulder as everyone walks ahead of him. He turns to see Allura, who plucks a hair from his head. “Ow!” He hisses, at which Allura smiles apologetically.

Lance enters the elevator and turns, smiling slightly as the door slides shut. Oh, God. This is the coolest thing ever.

Once he suits up, Lance makes his way down to the hangar entrance. He grabs the bars to the zipline and kicks off, flying forward fast and eventually reaching the end of the hall. He jumps off and lands in a small hovercraft, which he drives onto a platform that lifts him up to meet Blue. 

As soon as Lance sees Blue, he can feel her anger. “I’m fine!” He promises. “I just fell on my nose. No one did this.”

Blue seems to like that answer and lowers her head so that he can get in. Once settled into the cockpit, Lance pilots the lion out of the castle and lands her on the bridge.

Keith seems to be the only one there. Eventually, Shiro and Pidge join them, and everyone waits for Hunk. 

After five minutes, Lance begins to get impatient. “Should someone go in after him?”

Suddenly, the Yellow Lion flies out from behind the Castle.

“Sorry, everybody!” Hunk apologizes, landing on the bridge. “Seriously, though, can’t they park these things, like, a _little_ closer to the bridge?”

“All right, guys,” Shiro says. “Let’s just fly in tight formation until we’re totally in sync.”

Allura’s face appears on Lance’s screen. “Feel the bond with your lions and your fellow pilots until five become one unit… And you form Voltron!”

“Yeah!” Everyone shouts, taking off and flying in V formation.

After twenty minutes of flying in formation, the excitement filters away and is replaced by boredom and frustration.

“Clearly, this isn’t working,” Shiro says. “Let’s set down for a little bit.”

“Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up,” Keith suggests.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, let’s try literally _building_ Voltron,” Keith says. “Like, stacking on top of each other.”

At this, Lance snickers. “Like a cheerleader pyramid?”

“You got a better idea?” Keith shoots back, earning no response from Lance.

“It’s worth a try,” Shiro says.

Two minutes later, Lance and Pidge’s lions are parallel to each other. Keith’s lion stands on top of both of them, and Shiro’s lion is perched awkwardly on top of Keith. For some reason, Hunk’s lion is settled on top of Shiro’s.

 _’This is definitely not how Voltron was last time,’_ Lance thinks.

“Hunk,” Shiro asks flatly, “what are you doing?”

“You’re supposed to be the leg, over there.”

“What?” Hunk purses his lips. “No, no, no. I’m pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head, right?’

“You yelled, ‘I’m a leg!’” Lance raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things,” Hunk says innocently.

“Shiro’s the head,” Keith says aggravatedly.

Shiro sighs. “Let’s just try it my way for now.”

“Okay,” Hunk agrees begrudgingly. “But next time, I call head.”

As Lance had believed all along, Keith’s stupid pyramid idea doesn’t work.

Shiro sighs for what must be the three hundredth time today. “Let’s take a break,” He says.

Allura appears on Lance’s screen. “Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren’t able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle.”

Everyone agrees.

“Perfect,” Allura smiles, “because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle’s defenses.” She presses a few buttons on her control panel. “This should help!” 

Suddenly, the Castle’s particle barrier activates and begins firing at the lions. Everyone struggles to dodge the lasers and manages to run ahead of them while screaming maniacally. (Well, maybe that last part was just Lance.)

“Allura, what are you doing?!” Keith seems a lot calmer about this than anyone else, but he still looks panicked. 

“Running a diagnostic test on the Castle’s defenses and inspiring you!” Allura beams. “I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!”

There’s no use in trying to get back to the Castle--the particle barrier will keep them out. They have two options--form Voltron or keep running.

“Please, stop! Please!” Hunk cries. “Have mercy on us!” His lion narrowly misses a laser.

“You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you?” Allura narrows her eyes. “He’s probably on his way right now to destroy us all!”

And with that, Allura turns and walks away, ending the broadcast.

A good hour or so later, everyone is back in the Castle, resting on seats. Lance is half-asleep from exhaustion.

A door slides open, and Allura strides in, Coran following close behind. “You did it!” She says, her eyes bright. “You formed Voltron!”

“No,” Keith sighs. “The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.”

Allura’s grin is replaced with a mildly-annoyed scowl. “What?” She asks flatly.

“Oh, right. Sorry, Princess,” Coran shrugs. “I had to turn off the castle defenses to test the fire suppressors.”

Suddenly, Shiro walks in. “What are you guys doing in here? We’re not taking a break.”

“Shiro’s right,” Allura nods, “you should be training.”

“We’ve _been_ training,” Hunk groans. “When are we going back to Earth?”

“Yeah,” Lance nods. “It’s not like I can get cell service in space. I’ve got to make sure my family knows I’m okay.”

“I’m not going back until I find my family,” Pidge crosses his arms.

“Guys,” Shiro says firmly, “there won’t _be_ an Earth if we don’t figure out how to fight Zarkon.”

“How are we going to fight?” Lance rubs his eyes. “We can’t even figure out how to form Voltron!”

“Well,” Coran nods thoughtfully, “I’m not surprised. You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles side by side. They were like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears.”

Lance sighs, “Wow. Yeah, that’s _definitely_ not us.”

“During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far,” Coran continues. “You’ll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time.” He puts his hands on his hips. “You should try working out on the training deck!”

“There’s a training deck?” Hunk asks.

“Oh, yes!” Coran says happily. “Of course!”

Lance has never seen Keith look this interested. “Where?”

Coran walks to the end of the room and stands by a door. “Come along, Paladins.”

“But first,” Allura says quickly, “Lance, may I borrow you for a few ticks?

“Why do you need Lance?” Hunk asks.

“No reason,” Allura says, which only makes her seem even more suspicious.

“Um.” Lance scratches his head. “Is this about… The _thing?”_

Allura nods.

“What’s the thing?” Pidge swats Lance’s arm for attention. “Lance! What’s the thing?!”

Lance shakes his head, ignoring Pidge. He shoots Allura a grin, careful not to seem too suspicious. “Totally.”

“Lance!” Pidge groans. “I’m annoying you until you tell me,” He huffs. Lance kicks the back of his shin lightly.

“Go on,” He tells everyone. “I’ll meet you guys later.”

“What’s going on?!” Pidge grinds his teeth together.

“Yeah, seriously. Lance, rule number three of the Friendship Code clearly states no lying,” Hunk persists.

Lance rolls his eyes. “It’s nothing important,” He says, biting the inside of his cheek. “Allura wanted me to explain to her some Earth stuff. That way she could become more familiar with the terms we use.”

Pidge adjusts his glasses, “Do you really need to do this while we’re training?”

“Yes!” Coran says. “Absolutely. Now, leave Lance and Allura alone. Come on, single file.”

And with that, Coran pushes everyone else out of the room. Before he exits, Pidge makes the _’I’m watching you’_ gesture at Lance, which causes him to roll his eyes.

“Now,” Allura says, leading him down a hallway and into a small room. “I found something rather strange in that strand of hair, but it was inconclusive. I’m going to need a larger sample of DNA.”

“And what will that be?” Lance asks nervously.

“Blood!” Allura chirps.

Lance groans.

Allura pulls a small needle and a small plastic container from a drawer and holds them out. “Prick your finger.”

Lance takes off his glove, pricks his finger, and lets a few drops of blood drip into the container. Allura puts the container in a small computer-like machine that whirs as if it’s processing. It dings, and suddenly, something is displayed on the screen in Altean.

“What does it say?”

Allura’s looks stunned. Her jaw drops. “Lance, I-”

Lance freezes. No. No, this has to be some kind of prank. He’s human. _Human!_

“No.” Lance holds a hand over his stomach, already tasting bile. _“No!”_

“I’m sorry, Lance, but you’re-”

“Don’t say it,” Lance heaves, “not yet. I know. But let me… Let me try to live in ignorance for a little bit longer.”

“Are you okay?” Allura inquires.

“No,” Lance says. “No, I’m not. I swear, this is all just some bad dream. I’m human. I’m not Altean, and I’m _definitely_ not your brother.” He swallows the lump in his throat with great difficulty.

“I’m sorry,” Allura says. “If you’d like, I could tell the other Paladins that you’re ill, or-”

“No,” Lance sighs. “I’m going.”

Allura places a hand on his shoulder, which he shrugs off. He turns and exits the room, his head hung low as he tries to find the others.

Eventually, Lance reaches the training room. He’s grateful that Allura didn’t follow him.

“Ah, Lance!” Coran beams. He raises an eyebrow expectantly at Lance, who nods solemnly. Coran nods and offers a small smile.

“Woah, dude, you look like you just got hit by a truck,” Hunk says, beckoning Lance over. “Come on, grab a helmet. We’re reading each other’s minds.”

Hunk seems right. Everyone is sitting in a circle with weird helmets on their heads. Small screens are flickering in front of them, and Lance assumes that’s what they’re thinking about. 

“Ah, I think Lance should sit this one out,” Shiro says. “You look rough. Are you okay?”

“Never been better,” Lance says, a weak smile on his face. He walks over to the circle and grabs a helmet that’s lying on the ground. He sits down and puts the helmet on. _’Okay, Lance. Just think of your family.’_

_Family._

Lance grimaces. Does that mean that his family isn’t _his_ family? How can he even be full Altean? It’s been ten thousand years!

“Lance?” 

Lance snaps out of his daze, but just barely. He’s staring at the ground and his vision is out of focus.

“Lance!”

Suddenly, Lance feels a weight on his shoulder. He’s being shaken. Lance flinches and looks up, eyes wide. “Yeah?”

“Focus,” Hunk says calmly. “Also, activate your helmet. There’s a little button on the side.”

Lance nods and feels around on his helmet, finally finding the button after a few seconds. He presses the button, and instantly, a small translucent image appears in front of him.

“The most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron,” Coran says.

Lance focuses on his family. If he thinks about being Altean for even one second, it’ll appear on the screen.

“So, relax and open your mind,” Coran says softly. “No walls, no secrets between paladins.”

Lance thinks about his mother. Er, adoptive mother? No. His mother. The way she always sang him to sleep when he woke up with nightmares. He still remembers all the words her favorite song to sing: _P.S I Love You_ by the Beatles. Never for a second did her voice waver while she sang; it was always smooth, soft, and soothing.

He concentrates on how much his older siblings loved him. How Damian was always willing to drop everything and help him out, even if he was doing something important. How Ana would always look out for him when they both attended school. How Rosel always gave him rides to places. How Claudia shot out of her seat and hugged ecstatically when he announced that he had been accepted into the Galaxy Garrison. 

Lance’s family loved him so much. What if they think he’s dead?

“Now,” Coran instructs, “clear everything. Focus on forming your lion.”

 _’Easy,’_ Lance thinks in relief. He thinks about Blue and how much joy flying her brings him, even if he’s only been with her for two days.

But then an unprecedented wave of anguish hits him. Everything is adding up. He can’t be human--there’s no way. He should’ve known as soon as he found out Alteans have irregular ears.

The image of Blue flickers in front of him, and suddenly, Lance feels a few people begin to poke around in his head instead of doing what he’s been doing for the past five minutes-- _not_ dig around in everyone else’s head.

Lance keeps a wall between everyone and his thoughts about being Altean. They can’t know. Not now, at least.

“Bring your lions together and form Voltron.”

Lance focuses on getting his lion back. Blue slowly reanimates herself, but the wall in his mind flickers. He can’t do both of these at once. One has to go. Either his teammates find out he’s Altean, or he causes them to fail the exercise.

“Keep your minds open. Work together!” Coran encourages. “Good!”

Blue hasn’t even moved yet. She’s just flickering between herself and an image of Lance. 

“Keep focusing! Only two to go!”

Two?

Lance opens his eyes and sees that Pidge’s lion is flickering between itself and an image of Pidge with a slightly shorter girl that looks just like him. His sister, perhaps.

“Pidge!” Keith scolds, “stop thinking of your girlfriend!”

Oh. Well, close enough.

“And Lance,” Keith continues, “stop thinking of yourself and _focus.”_

“I wasn’t!” Pidge defends. “Hunk was rooting around in my head.”

“I thought we were open,” Hunk complains. “You can look around in my head hole!”

“Everyone has to be able to look at everyone’s head holes,” Coran sighs.

“And anyway,” Hunk continues, “Lance won’t even let anyone in _his_ head. You should be scolding him.”

“Clear your minds!” Coran interrupts.

Lance goes back to focusing on pushing Blue forward and keeping the wall in his mind up. He manages to do so, but barely.

“Good…”

Slowly, Blue inches forward--she’s going slower than all of the other lions, but that’s because Lance has to put in a lot more effort than anybody else.

“Almost there!”

The lions meet in the center of the circle. “Now, form Voltron,” Coran says.

Lance tries to attach Blue to Voltron as the right leg, but she flickers between herself and Lance again. Pidge’s lion does the same thing with itself and the picture of Pidge’s girlfriend.

“Pidge! Lance!” Hunk groans.

Anger surges through Lance.

“Ugh, I’m done with this!” Pidge shouts, standing up and taking off his helmet. “Look, I don’t like everyone grubbing around in my head!”

“Thank you!” Lance rips of his helmet and mimics Pidge by tossing it onto the ground. Instantly, he feels as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. 

“Come on, guys,” Shiro pleads, “we’re starting to get the hang of this.”

“I’m just… I’m just tired, okay?” Pidge says softly.

“Me too,” Lance sighs. “Look, I trust you guys fully, but there’s stuff that’s for me to know and you to find out. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Okay,” Shiro nods. “Let’s take a break.”

Five minutes later, Lance is resting tiredly against Hunk, sipping the Altean equivalent of a juice box. “You _have_ been working hard. Maybe it’s time to relax a little,” Coran says thoughtfully, handing Shiro and Keith their juice.

“What are you doing lying around?” Allura asks, entering the room with her hands on her hips. Lance holds in a sigh. “You’re supposed to be training!”

“Just resting a bit,” Coran says. “You know, you can’t push too hard.”

“But-”

“Allura, they’ve been hard at work all day without rest,” Coran argues, crossing his arms.

Allura sighs. “I guess,” She agrees begrudgingly. “Coran, could you and Lance join me? I’d like to learn more about Earth culture and let Coran learn some information as well.”

“You know, we could all just tell you,” Hunk points out.

“No need for that. Lance seems like the most knowledgeable in this field,” Allura says.

“Later,” Lance frowns, sipping his juice. “I’m exhausted right now.”

Lance sighs and tilts his head back so that it’s resting completely on Hunk’s shoulder. This is all just some weird, messed up dream. It has to be.

It _has_ to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S HERE. MY BOY IS ALTEAN.


	6. Maybe Having Pointy Ears Really Does Eradicate Humanness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura's hopeful wish turns into Lance's unsettling reality.

Later seems to come faster than Lance wants it to. The rest of the day speeds by, and Lance barely registers what’s happening in it. One moment, he’s eating some green goop with his team, and the next, he’s… Handcuffed to Keith and Hunk.

He struggles against the handcuffs, but it’s no use. He’s never getting out of them.

“Hold the phone-” Lance starts, but Coran interrupts him.

“I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you’re still struggling to work as a team. So,” Coran says with a smile, “welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day.”

Hunk pulls against his handcuffs. “Coran, I want you to think about what you’re doing.”

“This one’s a classic!” Coran beams. “You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!”

Feeding each other turns out to be harder than Lance originally thought. He tries to guide a spoon full of food goo into Hunk’s mouth, but he misses. When he reaches again, he pulls Keith with him--and Keith ends up grabbing Lance’s plate of food for support.

“Oh, nice,” Lance groans, “you defiled my food go!”

“It’s your fault! This is ridiculous!”

“Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” Allura seethes.

“Can’t you just give us a break? Everyone’s been working really hard today,” Shiro explains.

“Yeah!” Keith agrees. “We’re not prisoners for you to toy around with, like… Like…”

“Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Lance shouts.

“Yes!” Keith yells. “Thank you, Lance!”

Coran crosses his arms menacingly. “Right, you do _not_ yell at the Princess!”

“Oh, the princess of _what?_ We’re the only ones out here, and she’s no princess of ours!” Pidge says.

Instantly, Pidge is met with a spoonful of food goo in his face. Lance looks to his left to see who threw it and is surprised to see Allura standing threateningly, an empty spoon in her hand.

Pidge gapes. 

There’s a short pause as everyone stares at Allura as if she’s grown another head. Then, Keith stands, grabbing a bowl of food goo as he does so. “Go loose, Pidge!” He barks, throwing the contents of the bowl at Allura. It flies towards her, but is blocked by Coran, who takes a spoonful and flings it forward, covering everyone but Allura in thick green space goop.

Hunk shakes his head, a mischievous grin on his face. “Oh, it’s on,” He says, and before Lance can even blink, he’s spitting food goo at Allura and Coran. Immediately, the two grab bowls of goo and start throwing it at the paladins, who prove that they can dish it out just as much as they can take it. In Lance’s opinion, he and Keith make a good team--but if Pidge were right by him, they would’ve been the best team.

Eventually, after everyone gets tired, Allura collapses in a chair. Everyone shares a look, and suddenly, they burst into laughter.

“Enough!” Allura says loudly. “Do you see what you’re doing?”

Instantly, everyone stops laughing.

Allura looks up, sporting a wide grin. “You’re finally working together as one!”

“Hey,” Keith grins, “she’s right.” He looks at Lance.

Oh, God. He’s looking at Lance. Lance’s heart aches, and his dumb Garrison crush evolves just by looking at Keith’s smile.

“I actually don’t hate you right now,” Lance says with a grin. 

“You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Hunk asks.

Shiro raises his fist proudly. “Let’s go from Voltron!”

Everyone turns to leave, but they all fall into the chairs painfully.

After they’re uncuffed, everyone gets in their lions. “Everybody ready to do this?” Shiro asks as his lion’s eyes light up.

“Roger that,” Pidge grins.

“Then let’s go!” Shiro’s lion roars and takes flight. The other lions follow it, and soon, they’re flying in V formation.

“Yeah!” Everyone responds confidently.

There it is again. That hopeful feeling in Lance’s chest that makes him feel proud. Before he can register it, Blue is flying towards the others and transforming in the process. And there, before his very eyes, is Voltron. 

Voltron lands on the ground in front of Allura and Coran. Instantly, the comm is filled with excited chattering. 

“Great work, everybody,” Shiro praises proudly. “Let’s disband and get some rest. We’ve earned it.”

“Man, that was cool!” Lance says after they’ve all changed back into their normal clothes and are lounging in the common area. He’s still a bit on-edge, but the whole bonding thing really helps with his anxiety. “I’m so charged up, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight!”

“Not me,” Keith grins. “When my head hits the pillow, I’m gonna be lights _out.”_

Hunk sits in the space between the two, a big smile on his face. “I just wanted to let you know that I realized when we were in Voltron… We’re brothers, man,” Hunk puts his arms around both Lance and Keith and pulls them into a bone-crushing hug. “You know? Like, we’re totally connected. No barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way.”

Hunk has a watery smile on his face as he sighs happily, “I love you guys.”

“G-forces mess with your head a little bit?” Keith asks with a smile. Lance makes sure to remember that smile. Keith should smile more often.

“Yeah, maybe a little,” Hunk says, releasing Lance and Keith from his deadly hug.

Lance stands and makes his way towards the Holodeck, where he knows Allura and Coran will be. “In case I don’t see you guys later--night,” He says contently. He receives a chorus of happy responses that cause him to grin.

Lance exits the room, and without the company of his teammates, he’s left with his own thoughts as he walks to the Holodeck. There’s no denying it now. He’s full Altean. Well, Allura never really specified, did she? Maybe one of his parents is part Altean.

Then again, if he really _is_ fully Altean, that would explain why he doesn’t look like his parents.

Lance sighs as he enters the Holodeck. “Allura?” He calls out, seeing Allura, who’s resting her back on the control panel. “You wanted me?”

“Yes,” Allura stands. “We need to find Coran. I know I told you you’re fully Altean, but we should still check some other things.”

“Fully…?” Lance echoes.

So he’s not his parents’ child.

He tries to ignore the way his eyes water as he clears his throat and speaks again, “What other things?”

“Well, for one, there’s a very high probability that you’re my brother,” Allura says. “So we’ll need to test that.”

“How?”

“I’ll explain when we find Coran,” Allura says, taking his hand and leading him back into the hallway. “I believe he’s in the kitchen.”

Once they’re outside the kitchen doors, Allura turns to Lance. “And… I wanted to tell you… I’m sorry. I know this can’t be easy, but please excuse my excitement.”

“I know,” Lance nods, “it’s okay. I understand.”

Allura sighs and steps forward, causing the doors to slide open. “Ah, Lance!” Coran hums, “Are you ready?”

“I guess,” Lance says apprehensively. 

“Don’t worry,” Allura says reassuringly. “The process is simple. My father… He had circlets made for my family. He made sure my brother had one, too. It’s in the room that my father prepared for him. If you really _are_ my brother, the diadem will glow in your presence the first time you go near it. But be careful not to touch it if it _does_ glow.”

“Why not?” Lance questions.

“My father had one of the druids put a spell on Lance so that he would blend in with the locals on whatever planet he landed on. Unfortunately, his ears were permanent. But if you make direct contact with the crown, your true Altean features will be revealed.”

“Such as…?” Lance furrows his eyebrows.

“You will gain markings on your cheeks and your hair will return to its original color from when you were a baby--white.” Allura fiddles with her dress. “If you’re my brother, that is.”

“So, where is this crown thing?” Lance asks.

“Right here!” Coran interrupts as they stop at a door. “This is Allura’s room. King Alfor made sure this was where he would put anything belonging to Prince Lance for when he grew older and returned to the castle.”

The doors to Allura’s room slide open, and Allura strides inside, walking towards a dresser-like object and gingerly picking up a diadem that looks exactly like hers. 

“Lance,” She says softly, “come closer.”

Lance takes a few steps forward, trying to ignore the way the circlet is shaking ever-so-slightly in Allura’s hands. He stops when he’s just a mere foot away from her.

The crown does nothing.

Allura’s face falls. “I-”

Allura’s words die in her throat as the blue gem in the center of the crown begins to glow softly. Coran gasps, and so does Allura. Lance stares at the crown in shock, unable to move. Or think. Or breathe.

“Lance,” Coran places a hand on his shoulder as Allura returns the diadem to its spot on her dresser. “Welcome home.”

“But…” Lance trails off. “I…”

“You’re Lance. You’re my baby brother, Lance!” Allura launches forward and wraps her arms around him, the height difference causing Allura to accidentally restrict his arms. 

“I’m your brother,” Lance echoes. He pulls away from the hug and buries his face in his hands. “Oh, God. Allura, I…”

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Allura says, offering him a small smile. “Perhaps you should rest and we can talk more about this later.”

“No,” Lance says. “I’m not tired. I want to talk about it now, if that’s okay.”

“Of course,” Allura nods.

Coran turns and walks to the doors. “I’ll leave you two to talk,” He says, understanding the situation and the privacy required. 

Allura beckons Lance towards her bed. She sits on the edge, and Lance copies her. They sit in uncomfortable silence until Allura speaks up, “I thought I had lost you forever. I truly believed I would never find you.”

“So,” Lance says. He’s in a state of utter consternation and has barely any grasp of what’s going on. “Ten thousand years ago, my alien father placed me in a cryogenic freezing pod with you and Coran and made it so that I’d be sent to Earth to live out a peaceful life?”

“Yes,” Allura nods. “He made sure to leave things behind for you in case you learned your heritage and returned to the Castle of Lions and found us, however.”

“What kind of things?”

“Pictures. Clothes. Letters. There’s a box full of things for you in my closet.”

“Can I see it?” Lance asks softly.

“Of course!” Allura stands and touches something on a panel. A part of the wall disintegrates, and Lance gapes. Allura digs through a wave of clothing and pulls out a medium-sized white box. She carries it to Lance and sets it on his lap.

Lance carefully removes the top of the box and sets it behind him. The box is filled to the brim with things. Lance picks up a small note on top of the pile and begins to read it, ignoring how Allura peers over his shoulder to read the letter.

_Lance, this is your father. I understand you’ll have questions for me, but I hope Allura and Coran will do a decent job of explaining our situation. I pray you’ll forgive me for what I did, but you must understand that I simply wanted you to live a life without knowing the danger that you could’ve been in. Now, however, I suppose you’ve been forced into a life of danger. I’m sorry for that._

_Inside this box, I have included traditional possessions of Altean royalty, as well as things from your time at the castle when you were an infant._

_I love you, Lance. Be good._

Lance swallows the lump that’s been forming in his throat with difficulty. He sets the letter aside and pulls something else from the box.

It’s a photo. The border is similar to a polaroid’s, but all of the sides are equal. He studies the picture. It’s Allura, laughing with a tall man with white hair and sharp features. There’s a beautiful woman in the background that looks exactly like Allura, but she seems a bit older and slightly more mature.

Allura is cradling a bundle of blankets in her arms, and a tiny hand is reaching out from the blankets towards her. Her finger is poised for the hand to grab. 

“That’s father and mother,” Allura points to the people that Lance doesn’t know. “And that’s you.”

Lance sets the photo down and finds another. This one is just of Allura and Lance. 

Baby Lance is smiling happily at Allura, and Allura is looking at Lance like he’s her world. Lance understands--there’s a love for your siblings that matches no other love in the world. 

“You had just seen Coran for the first time that day,” Allura explains. “You were afraid of his moustache, so Father told me to calm you down. I quite honestly hated you up until that point,” Allura says. “But you smiled and laughed and I decided that I would do anything for you.”

Lance grins. “Good thing I was cute.”

“Oh, you were _adorable.”_

Lance glances again at the photo with his parents in it. “So… Our parents,” Lance says softly. “...They’re dead?”

Allura freezes. She nods slowly, “Yes. But… Father, he isn’t completely--” She pauses to rethink her words. “--He’s still alive, in a sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our father knew that there was a chance we would never be able to speak to him. So he had himself downloaded into a memory core. Yes, Father is long gone, but his memories aren’t.”

“So… You can, like, talk to him?” Lance asks timidly.

“Yes,” Allura nods. “Would you like to see him?”

“I…” Lance’s shoulders heave--from stress or exhaustion, he has no idea--and he looks at Allura, his lips pursed. “I think I’ve had enough for one day. And I’m not really prepared,” He says quietly. “But maybe tomorrow. Or sometime soon.”

“I understand,” Allura places a hand on his shoulder, which causes Lance to shiver. “I know there’s only so much someone can take. Perhaps you should rest,” She suggests.

“I’m fine,” Lance shrugs.

“You look exhausted. Please,” She raises an eyebrow. “Go to sleep.”

Lance sighs. “All right,” He agrees, standing and walking towards the door. Allura wraps her hand around his wrist and pulls him towards her bed. 

“The paladins’ quarters are too far from here,” She argues, pointing to her bed. “And my bed is also very comfortable.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Counters Lance, sitting on the bed next to one of Allura’s pillows. The mattress sinks. “This is like a cloud,” He grins up at Allura.

“Sleep,” Allura says, waiting for him to get under the covers. She pulls a heavy blanket up from the bottom of the bed and covers him with it, making him feel secure and warm. “I need to go talk to Coran for a bit, but I’ll be back soon, all right?”

“Cool,” Lance murmurs, eyes still closed drowsily. This is the most comfortable bed in the history of beds.

“Goodnight, Lance,” Allura says, walking out of the room.

Lance doesn’t even have the energy to return the phrase, much less do anything other than fall into the warm, inviting arms of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story only gets better from here. Unless you don't like Langst, in which case... It gets worse. My apologies.


	7. Homesick Isn't Easy when You Have No Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance has a conversation about home and is very, very tired.

The next morning, after breakfast, the team goes straight to training. “What happened to waiting twenty minutes?” Lance complains as he drags himself to his hangar.

Hunk snorts, but Shiro doesn’t answer, and Lance huffs when he realizes that he’ll have to do this for most of his day.

And that’s how the day goes--forming and reforming Voltron until Lance’s brain feels like it’s going to melt. He sighs in relief when Shiro tells them that they’re done for the day and can disband.

“Great job training today, guys,” Shiro praises as the paladins enter the dining hall, all of them exhausted beyond measure. Despite this, Shiro still walks with a happy energy that no one else has at the moment. “We’re really getting the hang of Voltron.”

“Seriously, though,” Lance grins, “how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must’ve been, like, a mile.”

Keith stares at him. “Yeah, that’ll come in handy when the Galra challenge Voltron to a soccer match.”

Lance shrugs, “Hey, I did something cool and you can’t handle it. I get it.” 

“Your kick ruined our balance. We fell,” Keith deadpans.

Lance huffs, crossing his arms.

“Save your energy for fighting Zarkon,” Shiro calls.

The door to the halls slides open, and Coran walks inside, carrying a covered plate of food. “Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?”

“We’re getting there,” Shiro replies. “Are you and Allura almost done fixing the castle so we can leave this planet?” He asks. “I feel like we’re sitting ducks here on Arus.”

“Just about,” Coran smiles. “In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you’re worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!”

Coran pulls the lid off the plate, which reveals what can only be described as a green monstrosity. It’s a steaming, dark green lump with small sacks of something attached to it.

As bland as it is, Lance would rather stick to food goo than eat this crap.

“Coran,” Hunk complains, “you _just_ got me hooked on this food goo and now you’re switching it up?”

“It’s packed with nutrients!” Coran chirps.

Hunk leans over the table to smell the dish. As soon as he gets a whiff, he recoils in horror, a grossed-out expression on his face. “Ugh, it smells _disgusting!”_

“I know!” Coran says happily, “That’s how you know it’s healthy!”

“Coran,” Hunk reprimands. “We’re on a planet now with fresh herbs and spices. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna head back to the kitchen and spice things up.”

“Yes!” Lance cheers as Hunk turns and leaves. “You go, buddy!”

He notices Keith looking at him, his eyebrow raised. “Hunk’s cooking is the best cooking. Once, he had my mom send a copy of one of her recipes and made it. His version tasted _even better_ than hers,” Lance explains.

“Where’s Pidge?” Shiro asks as Coran takes a bite of The Monstrosity.

“He’s probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon,” He replies, mouth full of green alien food. “They’ll all be waking soon in the infirmary.”

Shiro stands, presumably to go find Pidge. Lance notices that he hasn’t seen Allura all day--she wasn’t even in her room when he woke up.

“I’m gonna go find ‘Llura,” Lance mutters, leaving Keith alone in the dining hall. He wanders the Castle for a bit and finally finds Allura on the Holodeck. “Hey!” He says, walking over to her. She’s playing with the mice.

“Hello, Lance,” Allura greets, smiling at him.

“So, like, I have a question.”

Allura nods, and Lance continues, “You’re sixteen?”

“I had just celebrated my birthday the week Father put us in the pods,” Allura responds.

“And I’m sixteen and a _half,”_ Lance grins. “So I’m older.”

“But I was born first.”

“I was let out of the pods first,” Lance shoots back playfully. “So I’m older.”

“I refuse to accept that,” Allura declares, offering her finger for one of the mice to paw at. “I’ll always be older in spirit.”

“Fine,” Lance concedes, “but I’m still the oldest.”

“That means you’re the rightful heir to the Altean throne,” Allura says. Lance notices that the atmosphere between the two has changed--Allura’s tone is almost teasing. “King Lance.”

Lance’s eyes widen. “I just realized,” His jaw drops. “I’m a prince.”

“You’re just now realizing this?” Allura asks.

“Allura, I’m a prince!”

“Yes, Lance,” Allura laughs. “You’re royalty. And once you tell the other paladins, I expect you’ll be treated as such.”

“Speaking of,” Lance says. “I don’t necessarily want to tell anyone yet. Let’s just keep this a secret between you, Coran, and I.”

“For how long?”

“As long as I can,” Lance says. “I just… I don’t want anyone to look at me differently. Because I’m still the same. I’m still Lance. Still from Earth, from Cuba, from my old family. Just not biologically.”

“This Cuba you talk of,” Allura says, “what’s it like?”

“Well, first you should know that Earth is divided into two hundred or so divisions called countries. Each has its own language, form of government, and laws. Some get along well. Others are at war. Some form alliances. We’ve had a couple of planet-wide wars that we called World Wars I and II.”

“But why not just have one peaceful form of government that presides over _all_ countries?” Allura asks. 

“Because humans are greedy and their opinions most always end up clashing. In fact, we’re so greedy that a lot of our wars have been started over territory. Others were started purely out of hatred for minorities.”

Allura listens intently.

“Uh, I come from Cuba, an island off the coast of one of the larger and more powerful countries called the United States of America. Cuba’s generally a pretty poor country, so I can’t speak for everyone when I say this, but my family does well. We own a restaurant just by a popular beach, so we always got tourists coming from rich countries and tipping us a lot more than they should’ve been tipping. Cuba’s also got a really messed up government, but it’s a beautiful place,” He says.

“What was it like?”

“We lived a little ways from the beach. My siblings and I would always go and swim during the summer, and if we ever got hungry, there was this little shack that sold snacks. Mainly garlic knots. They’re little pieces of what we call bread basted in oil from a food called garlic. They were amazing.” Lance’s stomach rumbles just thinking about Earth food. “The beaches had white sand and the water was always crystal clear, and most of the time it was this beautiful shade of blue, especially when the sun was out.”

“It sounds lovely,” Allura smiles at him.

“Yeah. Then, I applied for a scholarship at a space exploration program in the United States called the Galaxy Garrison. I learned more of the language spoken there and enrolled. I was a cargo pilot for a while until Keith got kicked out. After that, I became a fighter pilot. The Garrison is actually where I met Hunk and Pidge.”

“How did you find the Blue Lion?”

“It’s actually a pretty crazy story. So, I convinced Hunk to get Pidge and help us sneak out of the Garrison so we could have a night out and be friends. But when we found Pidge, he was on this freaky computer. He told us aliens were real, and that they kept repeating the word ‘Voltron.’ Then, Shiro’s ship crashed into Earth, and the Garrison went to investigate. They set up a camera feed and sedated Shiro, but Pidge hacked the feed and showed us Shiro. We knew we had to save him. We went to do exactly that, but Keith was already there. So we got Shiro and hopped on Keith’s bike. He nearly killed us while we were being chased by Garrison teachers, but we eventually made it to where he was staying. He told us about the Blue Lion, and then we went to find it. And now, we’re here,” Lance grins. 

“Hm,” Allura says. “But I don’t understand,” She says. “It seems like you trust Hunk and Pidge completely, so why don’t you want them to know you’re Altean?”

“I need some time to let it sink in,” Lance explains. “I trust everyone, but, like, even though I know Hunk and Pidge really well, I still feel like they’re not going to like the fact that I’m not human. And Shiro--he’s been my hero ever since I wanted to be a pilot. I’m terrified of letting him down. And Keith,” Lance says. “Keith is Keith.”

“Meaning?”

“He’d totally make fun of me.”

“Would he, though?”

Lance scoffs, “Yeah! That guy _hates_ me!”

Allura sighs. “If you say so.”

There’s a pause that follows her words, and Lance uses it to think about Earth.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?” 

Allura taps one of the mice’s backs. “What is your family from Earth like?”

Lance chews his lip.

“My apologies, I didn’t mean--”

“No,” Lance says, “it’s fine. I just haven’t been thinking about them much because of everything that’s been going on.”

Lance takes a deep breath. “Um, first, I’ll probably have to tell you about Mamá. She’s the sweetest person alive, but she can also be the scariest. She really loves all of us a lot, and she works really hard to make sure we have what we need. Nobody ever gives her enough credit. I miss her the most. She used to sing me to sleep when I was a kid, and now I can hardly get to sleep without replaying the song she sang in my head.”

“And your father?”

“Papi always let everyone get away with everything. He never liked punishing us because he loved us all so much. He always put us before anything else. He was terrified when I told him I got into the Garrison, because he thought I’d--” Lance’s eyes widen. “--he thought I would get hurt. Or worse.” He sighs, “And now he doesn’t know where I am or if I’m even alive.”

Allura puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” She says softly, and Lance shakes his head.

“I’ll return to Earth eventually,” Lance dismisses her, continuing with his descriptions of his family. “My siblings are all older than me. They’re always so full of love.”

“What are their names?”

“Damian is the oldest. He’s super smart, and he got accepted into a really good university in the United States just before I left for the Garrison. He was always super busy towards the end of my time on Earth, but whenever I needed help, whatever it was, he would always drop everything and come to help me. Even if it was something stupid, like making dinner.”

Allura nods thoughtfully.

“Rosel is a lot like Damian, but a lot less dependent on the fact that he’s smart. Like, Damian sees everything in black and white, but Rosel’s vision is abstract. They have a different way of looking at things. Rosel never really cared about what people thought of him, but everyone always compared him to Damian, which made him _super_ mad. He was also really funny and liked to play pranks on me.” Lance pauses for a few seconds before continuing, “Did you guys have twins on Altea?”

“No,” Allura furrows her eyebrows. “What are twins?”

“Basically, if someone gets pregnant, sometimes, they get pregnant with two babies instead of one. Or three. Or four. I think the largest number was, like, five or six. But anyway, when the babies are born, they can look identical. But they can also look different. It depends.”

“Hm,” Allura says. “We had a different term for that on Altea.”

“My sisters are identical twins. Their names are Ana and Claudia, and they’re _really_ competitive with each other. But at the end of the day, they love each other more than anyone else. Ana is super tough. She lifts weights and has a stupid daily workout routine. Claudia makes music. She plays a bunch of instruments, and she has an amazing singing voice. Which is funny, because Ana can’t sing at all.”

“And then there’s me,” Lance sighs. “But I don’t really count anymore, do I?”

“Your family sounds lovely,” Allura says gently. 

“Yeah.” Lance rubs his tired eyes. “I miss them a lot.”

Suddenly, the room turns red, and an alarm begins to blare. Lance and Allura quickly stand, running to the dining hall where everyone else is.

“What’s going on?” Lance asks Keith when they enter the room.

“I don’t know!” Keith says exasperatedly. “The alarm just went off!”

Allura waves her hand, and a screen appears in front of her, displaying the outside of the Castle. There’s a small figure running around, hiding behind rocks. It peeks out from one, and the Castle zooms in on it.

“What is that?” Keith asks.

“I don’t know _what_ it is. Maybe it’s a local Arusian,” Allura says.

The figure runs out from behind the rock and takes cover behind yet another one.

“He’s approaching the castle,” Allura notes.

“Aw!” Hunk coos.

“Doesn’t look too dangerous,” Lance says, falling in love with the tiny life form. He’s so tiny that Lance decides he’ll protect this little guy with his life.

“You never know,” Keith mutters, activating his bayard.

“No,” Allura says firmly. “Alteans believe in peace first. Let’s go welcome them.”

Allura turns and walks into the hall, probably walking to the Castle’s huge main doors.

“That’s _adorable,”_ Hunk gushes, following Allura eagerly.

Lance follows Hunk and Allura. “Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!”

Lance sees Keith following him warily in his peripheral vision, his bayard in hand. He says nothing.

The walk to the doors isn’t quite as long as Lance remembers. Soon, they’re standing before the monstrous doors as they slide open. The Arusian comes into their line of sight, and instantly, he yelps and dives into the bushes.

“Greetings,” Allura says, striding towards the bushes and bending down so that she can see the Arusian. “We know you’re there. No harm will come to you.”

Suddenly, the Arusian emerges from the bushes, a small scythe in his hands. “Aw!” Hunk grins.

“Wait,” Keith says, putting a hand in front of Allura. “He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon.”

“No one takes Klaizap’s weapon!” The Arusian--Klaizap--raises his scythe towards Keith.

“Keith, put that away!” Allura scolds. She turns to face Klaizap. “Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies.”

Klaizap nods, lowering his sword. “I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers.”

“Followers?” Coran asks.

“Lion Goddess?” Hunk echoes.

Klaizap gestures towards a stone beside him. It’s smooth, and there’s something carved into it. It’s an illustration of a robed lion being worshipped by Arusians. “The one the ancients spoke of,” He explains.

Allura’s eyes soften. “You haven’t angered the Lion Goddess.”

“How can you be certain?”

“Because I am Allura, and this is my Castle,” Allura says, gesturing towards the Castle of Lions behind her.

Klaizap gasps and bows. “Lion Goddess!”

“Please, bravest warrior,” Allura purses her lips, “take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors.”

-

The Arusian village is small and not too advanced, but its inhabitants are kind and welcoming. They’re also very tiny--the tallest Arusian can barely reach Lance’s knee. 

“Oh, Lion Goddess!” The Arusian King steps forward, instantly ceasing all celebration. “I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please, have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings.”

The King claps his hands, and a small pink Arusian rushes in front of Allura. The sound of drums fill Lance’s ears, and the Arusian dances along to the beat.

“Please,” Allura smiles, “there’s no need for this.”

The music stops abruptly. “Moontow, halt!” The King orders, and the Arusian freezes. “The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire!”

A blazing fire suddenly roars to life behind the king, reaching the height of the trees that surround the village.

“We must throw ourselves in,” The King says sorrowfully.

“No!” Allura says quickly. “No, no sacrifices!”

“So…” The King asks slowly, “We may proceed with the dance?”

“That’s a better alternative,” Allura smiles.

The King claps his hands, and the music resumes. Moontow dances along with the beat until the ending of the song, at which she bows. All of the Arusians surrounding her bow as well.

“Please,” Allura says apprehensively, “please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger; it is I who should be apologizing to you. I am Princess Allura, and these are the Voltron Paladins.” Allura gestures to Keith, Lance, and Hunk, who are all standing behind her. “We wish to live alongside you as friends.”

“But the mighty robotic angel…” The King stands, lifting his arms to the sky for emphasis. “Has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?”

“Voltron?” Allura asks. “No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you.” Allura spreads her arms, raising her voice so that it can be heard by all of the Arusians. “Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!”

At this, the villagers cheer and crowd around Allura and the paladins happily. Two Arusians jump onto Lance’s side, and another hugs his leg. Lance happily accepts their affection.

“Shiro?” Allura asks, tapping her earring to hear the comm line better. 

“What’s going on?” Keith asks. He’s lounging against a tree, probably for the shade that it provides.

Allura turns and points to the sky, where something is entering the atmosphere. The Arusians begin to panic.

“We’ve gotta get to our lions!” Keith says hurriedly as the villagers run towards their homes. 

“Everyone get inside and stay down!” Allura instructs as Keith, Lance, and Hunk run to their lions. 

Just as Lance gets in Blue, the ground trembles. Whatever was in the sky must have crashed. Almost simultaneously, the Red, Blue, and Yellow lions take flight towards Pidge and Shiro’s location.

“Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!” Keith shouts when they reach their destination. Lance does as told, but not before getting a good look at what he’s fighting. It seems to be a mechanical monster made by the Galra.

“You guys okay down there?” Keith asks as the Black and Green lions steady themselves.

“Still alive for now,” Shiro replies. The two lions lift of the ground.

“Are the Galra behind this?” Hunk questions as the robot stands.

“I think so, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Lance asks. “Shoot at it with everything we’ve got? Take out its weapon? Call it names?”

“If we want to take this monster down,” Shiro says, “there’s only one way to do it. Form Voltron!”

Lance wouldn’t dare to say it out loud, but all of the training that they’ve done has certainly helped them with forming Voltron now. The process is much faster, and it’s a lot easier, too. This time, it barely registers in Lance’s mind that they’re forming Voltron because it’s become such a normal thing to do.

Once Voltron settles and lands on the ground, Lance officially loses all ability to retain what’s going on. The battle blurs by, and all Lance remembers is the force of something hitting Voltron’s shield before the robeast falls to the ground and gets back up again. Not much of the ordeal actually checks in with Lance, and most of the time, he’s just murmuring things into the comms in a ‘live in the moment’ style.

Suddenly, a loud _boom_ comes from behind Voltron. When Voltron turns, Lance sees that the robeast has been defeated. Eventually, the team disassembles and makes their way back to the castle, where Lance tiredly hangs up his helmet and helps the team see off the Galra prisoners as they fly back home. 

“Do you think we’re being searched for on Earth?” Lance asks Hunk absentmindedly. Hunk just puts a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll make it home soon, buddy.”

“I’m going to bed.” Lance stands and makes his way to his room, passing Allura’s room as he does so. He tells her goodnight and finally enters his room, where he collapses on his bed and groans. And then, as he’s alone in the night, the gears of his brain start to turn.  
Lance misses home. He misses home so much, but at this point, is it even home? Can a house truly be a home if you’ve been lied to all your life by the people that so graciously took you in?

Being Altean is cool, sure. But not when you’ve thought you were human for the past sixteen years. On top of all that, the people that raised you--kept you under their roof and fed you--aren’t even your parents. 

Parents. Lance misses his family from Earth, especially his parents. Can he even consider them his parents now, though?

Lance shuts his eyes, but the release of sleep doesn’t come until the word _family_ is long gone from his mind, replaced by the mental image of his father, mother, and Allura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't too proud of this chapter, but don't worry--it'll get better soon towards the end of season one.


	8. Acceptance is Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance makes a decision.

White light floods Lance’s vision when he wakes, forcing him to squint and grunt. Something moves in front of his vision, obstructing his room’s bright lights.

“Hey, buddy,” Hunk says softly. “Uh, we’ve got a day off today. No training or anything.”

“Really?” Lance murmurs sleepily. “Huh.”

“So you can sleep in, if you want. Allura’s throwing a party for the Arusians tomorrow, so later, we’re all going to help with that, but for now, sleep.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Lance says.

“Are you sick?” Hunk asks suddenly.

“What?”

“You’ve just been… Standoffish these past few days. Not like you at all.” Hunk puts a hand on Lance’s forehead and sighs when he realizes Lance is maintaining a normal temperature. “I just wanted to know if you were okay.”

“Yeah,” Lance lies, “I’m fine. I miss home, that’s all. I’ll get over it.”

“But--”

“Really, Hunk, I’m fine,” Lance insists. “You know me. I’ll warm up to everyone soon enough, I swear. Now, can I go back to bed?”

“Yeah,” Hunk sighs, unconvinced. “Sure thing, man.” He exits the room, but not before looking over his shoulder and softly saying, “Sleep well!”

Lance barely has time to mutter his thanks before his door closes and his lights go out. His head hits the pillow once again, and he shuts his tired eyes again, falling into yet another deep sleep.

When Lance finally wakes of his own accord, he stands groggily, dresses himself, and steps out of his room; thankfully, he doesn’t trip and injure himself this time. He makes his way into the kitchen, where he finds Hunk searching the cabinets. “Hey,” Lance greets.

“There’s no way you only slept in for an hour,” Hunk turns to him, narrowing his eyes. “Who are you, and what have you done with Lance?”

 _Good question,_ Lance thinks as he rolls his eyes. “I couldn’t sleep,” He answers, hooking his thumbs outside his pockets and taking a seat on one of the barstools by the large counter.

Lance realizes that he hasn’t actually dug around in his jacket pockets since he was last on Earth, and suddenly, he remembers that he had kept his phone with him when Blue took him into space. His eyes widen, and he shoves his hand into the left pocket of his jacket. He comes close to crying out in relief and happiness when he pulls out a small black phone.

“Hunk,” He utters quietly. “Hunk, look what I found.”

Hunk turns and sees Lance’s phone. “Dude! That’s awesome!” He grins, rushing over to see the phone. Lance unlocks it and instantly goes to his photos. Suddenly, he’s glad that he took so many photos of his family and scenery. 

Lance is greeted with a photo of his mother hugging him tightly as he tries on his Garrison uniform for the first time, big grins on both of their faces. He swipes his thumb across the phone. It’s a picture of Claudia, tears of joy in her eyes and her hand covering her face as Lance tells her that he’s been accepted into his dream school. Another swipe. Rosel, spamming his phone with a bunch of selfies that actually don’t look too bad. Lance is jealous. Lance swipes again, and sees that it’s a picture of himself and Hunk, captioned _”GARRISON ROOMIES 4 LIFE!”_

Hunk snorts. “We look so innocent.”

“And totally not ready for the wrath of Iverson.”

Hunk shudders.

Lance swipes, and his phone shows another photo of himself and Hunk. This time, Pidge is balancing himself on their shoulders so that he can be in the picture. Lance narrows his eyes when he sees something dark in the background.

“No way,” Hunk dissolves into laughter. _”No way!_

“Yes!” Lance shrieks. “Yes way! I can’t believe we... We… Hunk, we got photobombed--”

“--By Keith!” Hunk guffaws.

“I have to delete this, Hunk,” Lance purses his lips, pressing the trashcan button dramatically. “The picture’s been soiled.”

Hunk rolls his eyes. “Keep it. It shows how good we were before you corrupted us.”

Lance sticks out his tongue. “Wait, dude, this means I have access to Earth music,” He grins, “or, at least… The stuff I already downloaded. Which was everything, so we’re good.”

“Your music library is a nightmare,” Hunk shudders, causing Lance to shove him lightly. 

“My music library is a musician’s dream come true! And I say that because my siblings and I share a music library. And one of them happens to be a seasoned musician.”

Lance swipes his thumb across the phone once more, revealing a video. It’s of a serene, relaxed Rosa. Lance clicks play, and instantly he wishes he didn’t.

_As I write this letter, send my love to you-- _

Lance turns off his phone, biting the inside of his cheek. “That’s enough nostalgia for one day.” 

“Is that the song?” 

Lance nods slowly, taking in a deep breath and feeling tears well in his eyes. He wipes them away quickly. “Sorry,” He sighs. “I shouldn’t have even turned it on.” 

Hunk wraps his arms around Lance’s shoulder, enveloping him in a huge, warm hug. “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” He insists, “especially if you feel sorry for missing Earth. We all do.” 

“Yeah, but it’s different for me,” Lance lowers his head. 

“What do you mean?” Hunk raises an eyebrow. “Dude, have you been keeping secrets?” 

Lance takes in a deep breath. “Hunk, I’m--” 

“Lance!” Allura enters the kitchen, her hair bouncing with each step. “There you are. I need help with repairs. We’re throwing a party for the Arusians.” 

Lance forces a smile. “Awesome. Can’t wait to see those little guys again.” 

Allura grabs his wrist and drags him into the ballroom. “I don’t really need help with anything,” She says nonchalantly. “I just wanted to talk.” 

“What about?” 

“I was talking to Father last night and accidentally told him that you were here.” 

Lance gapes. “Jesus." 

"And now he’s asking for you.” 

Lance doesn’t answer, so Allura continues, “He just wants to apologize. Surely you can understand that.” 

“Allura, I lived my entire life thinking I was something I’m not. He could’ve prevented that.” 

“Or he could have forced you to grow up in the midst of a universal war,” Allura counters. “He did what he thought was best for you.” 

Lance sighs and bows his head. “Okay.” 

"What?” 

"I want to meet him,” Lance says. “Might as well face him and get skip the pleasantries." 

_“Really?” Allura marvels. “Why so suddenly?”_

__

“I mean… He’s my father, right? Why _wouldn’t_ I try to talk to him?” 

__

“Well--” 

__

“I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m Altean,” Lance says. “It’s not that big of a deal anymore. I’m starting to consider telling the team.” 

__

“Marvelous!” Allura says, a cheshire grin spreading across her face. “Come on, I’ll bring you to Father!” 

__

Allura hurries up the stairs, motioning for Lance to follow her. He complies, and Allura leads Lance into a new hallway that he hasn’t explored yet. They stop outside a room, but the door doesn’t slide open as per usual. 

__

“This is it, huh?” Lance asks softly. 

__

“Yes,” Allura nods happily. “Father will be delighted to see you.” 

__

“I’m not ready,” Lance sighs. “There’s no way I can face him. It’s going to be, like, _super_ awkward.” 

__

“You’ll do wonderfully,” Allura shakes her head. “Our father is a kind man. He’ll understand your discomfort and work to dissolve the tension.” 

__

“But… I haven’t _done_ anything special. He’ll be disappointed in me, won’t he?” Lance asks. 

__

Allura places a hand on his shoulder. “Lance, remind me why you’re here.” 

__

“The Blue Lion brought us here.” 

__

“Exactly. You’re one of five people chosen to defend the universe,” Allura says. “The Blue Lion chose you, and you alone. No one else is able to pilot it now--not even its former paladin.” 

__

Lance sighs and nods, “I’m ready.” 

__

Allura places a hand on the side of the wall, which activates a small control panel. She presses a series of buttons, and suddenly, the door slides open. Lance anxiously peers inside. The room is dark, but from what Lance can see, there’s a catwalk leading to a circular platform in the center of the room. As soon as Allura steps inside, the room lights up, and Lance reluctantly walks behind her. 

__

Allura walks towards the platform, where something protrudes from the ground. Lance isn’t close enough to look inside, but he _does_ see that it’s hollow, and that the inside of it glows blue, casting light on Allura’s face as she steps closer towards it. 

__

“Our father knew there might be a chance that he wouldn’t see us again,” Allura says softly. “So he extracted parts of his memory and stored them in this database for us. Now, a part of him lives on.” 

__

Allura has now reached the platform and stands directly in front of the glowing blue shape. Lance stands behind her as she reaches forward. Something inside of the hollow figure--some sort of luminous blue orb--flies upwards to meet her hand. 

__

Suddenly, the room is bathed in warm sunlight. Lance and Allura are no longer in the Castle; no, they’re in an elysian meadow. The sky above them is the same color as the oceans back home, and white clouds hang lazily in the sky. In the distance, breathtaking purple hills obstruct Lance’s view of the rest of the meadow, but he doesn’t mind. At his feet, surrounding him for miles and miles, are small, vibrant magenta flowers, peeking up from blankets of soft green grass. 

__

Though Lance is still hiding behind Allura, he can see the ends of the device peek out from either side of his sister. He hears a noise similar to one that would be in a Disney movie, and suddenly, Lance can feel Allura sigh in relief. “Father,” She greets, but Lance doesn’t look; instead, he makes himself even smaller. 

__

"Allura,” Lance hears a deep, rich voice in response. “I’ve been anxiously awaiting your return. Have you spoken to him?” 

__

“I have,” Allura nods, raising her foot and kicking Lance in the shin lightly. 

__

“And his response?” Alfor inquires. 

__

“Father,” Allura says slowly. “This is the Blue Paladin--and your son, Lance." 

__

Allura steps out of the way so that she’s no longer blocking Lance from Alfor’s view. Lance straightens his posture out of habit, and only then does he see his father--well, the holographic version of his father. He looks older than he does in the pictures--his eyes are tired, and his mouth is settled in a frown. When he sees Lance, however, he breaks into a huge, watery smile. 

__

“Lance,” Alfor says, his voice watery. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

__

“No, don’t apologize.” Lance purses his lips. “You did the right thing. I would have preferred this over growing up in the middle of a war." 

__

“I tried to shield you from your future, and in the end, I only made the situation more complex,” Alfor sighs. 

__

“Hey,” Lance says, a small smile gracing his lips. “At least I’m older than Allura. That’s something good that came out of this." 

__

Alfor laughs, his eyes darting between Allura and Lance. “That much is true.” His eyes soften, and he turns to face Allura. “Does he resemble Blaytz, or am I blinded by age?” 

__

“No,” Allura smiles. “I believe the Blue Lion has a preference for comical flirts,” She says. 

__

Lance looks again at the flowers beneath him. “Where are we?” 

__

“The memory core simulates whatever Father wants it to. Currently, we’re in an Altean field,” Allura says wistfully. “The flowers are called mountain juniberries, if you were wondering.” 

__

“They’re beautiful,” Lance says. “They look like a flower we had back on Earth. They were called lilies.” 

__

“Earth?” Alfor echoes. Lance looks at his feet. 

__

“That’s the planet that I landed on as a baby,” Lance explains. 

__

“Did you have a nice childhood?” 

__

“Definitely,” Lance confirms, nodding his head rapidly. “I was taken in by an amazing family that raised me as their own.” 

__

Alfor breaks into a proud smile. “You’ve no idea how happy that makes me. Knowing that you were cared for is one of the greatest gifts I could receive.” He pauses. “Was Earth a pleasant place to live?” 

_Lance inclines his head. “I wasn’t able to travel much, so I didn’t get to see a lot before I left on the Blue Lion. What I _was_ able to see was incredible. Not nearly as beautiful as this field, but still incredible.”_

__

“Wonderful.” 

__

It goes like that for quite a while; Alfor interrogates Lance about Earth, and Lance responds truthfully. Eventually, Allura stretches and leaves the room, claiming she needs to help decorate the castle. Lance continues to talk to his father about a variety of topics. At one point, Lance’s teammates come up. 

__

__

“Uh,” Lance says quietly. “Not necessarily? Not yet, anyway.” 

__

“Elaborate.” 

__

“Well, Hunk and Pidge, the Yellow and Green Paladins… They’re my best friends. We knew each other way before we left Earth. But Keith, the Red Paladin, and Shiro, the Black Paladin--I don’t know either of them at all. I mean, Shiro was my hero for a long time, but I hardly know anything about the guy. And Keith kind of just keeps to himself most of the time, so there’s not really a chance of me getting to know him anytime soon." 

__

“I see,” Alfor says. “Perhaps you could try engaging in small conversations?” 

__

“I mean, yeah,” Lance nods, “maybe with Shiro. But not Keith.” 

__

“Why?” 

__

“We’re _rivals!”_ Lance blurts out before he can stop himself, the age-old lie being a force of habit. “We hate each other.” 

__

“Clearly, that’s not the case. If that were true, you wouldn’t be able to form Voltron.” 

__

Lance doesn’t answer. 

__

“Lance,” Alfor demands. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

__

“I worked really hard to get a scholarship to the Garrison. My family was able to provide necessities, but other than that, we hardly had any spending money. So when I got a scholarship, I was super happy and promised my dad--uh, _adoptive_ dad, I guess--that I’d become the best pilot of my generation.” 

__

Alfor nods slowly, signalling for Lance to continue. 

__

“I took my entry exam, and once our scores were posted, I was the seventh-best. Keith was the best, and I swore that I’d beat him,” Lance sighs. He’s careful to leave out the part about his massive crush that gave him even more motivation to win--after all, what wasn’t impressive about someone climbing the ranks just to impress their crush? “I had made it all the way up to second place, and I was about to beat Keith, too. It wasn’t until he got kicked out of the Garrison that I was moved up a rank. I became a fighter pilot instead of a cargo pilot, and one the Garrison’s officials, Iverson, never let me hear the end of it.” 

__

“What do you mean?” Alfor questions. 

__

“If I messed up, he would tell me that _Keith_ wouldn’t make that mistake. And his favorite pastime was reminding me that I was only a fighter pilot because Keith left. I mean, I don’t hate the guy--not really. But Iverson conditioned me to hate him, so I feel like I should. But I don’t." 

__

“Jealous,” Alfor says softly. Lance startles, looking up at his father in surprise. 

__

“What?” 

__

“You’re jealous,” Alfor reiterates. 

__

Lance deflates. “I mean, kind of. I’m jealous of _everyone,_ really.” 

__

Alfor raises an eyebrow, and Lance continues, “Uh. Everyone on the team has a thing. Keith’s the moody fighter, Pidge is the boy genius, Hunk is the loving chef, Shiro’s the fearless leader, Allura’s the awesome strategist, Coran’s kind of just good at everything, and I’m… Lance. I don’t have a thing.” 

__

“Lance,” Alfor sighs. “You’re the Blue Paladin. From what you’ve told me about your old university, you’re an incredible marksman, and I know that you’re rational and intelligent. Furthermore, you handled the burden of being Altean remarkably well--better than I ever could’ve. You’re so very important, Lance,” Lance’s father smiles down at him. “You’re essential to Voltron, and your importance doesn’t end there.” 

__

“I mean…” 

__

“I’m proud of you, Lance,” Alfor says. Lance feels tears prick his eyes, and he hastily wipes them away. 

__

“Thanks,” He says softly. “That… That was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.” 

__

“Lance?” Allura calls, opening the door. The fields of juniberries vanish, and Lance is back in the dark room, seated on the platform. “Lance, the party is starting soon!” 

__

Lance hurries to wipe the rest of his tears, after which he turns to look at Alfor. “Go,” His father prompts encouragingly. “I’ll be here when you get back.” 

__

Lance nods, bids him goodbye, and follows Allura back to the Holodeck, where he puts on his armor and hurries to meet the rest of the team in the ballroom. “You ready?” Hunk asks Lance once he finally locates the huge room. The doors are about to open. 

__

Lance shrugs, managing to put on a grin. “Totally.” 

__

Just as the doors are opening, something Alfor had said earlier presents itself in Lance’s mind: _try to befriend your team._ Lance sighs, realizing that his father is probably right. He silently abandons any notion of talking to Allura and Coran, instead making plans to talk to Keith for the rest of the night. Lance bows his head slightly, humbled by the sudden realization that his stupid crush on Keith may abate if he just refuses to acknowledge it. 

__

The doors swing open fully, and the Arusians file in, slowly filling the vast room. 

__

Lance sighs. This will be a long, _long_ night. 

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit of a filler chapter. Next chapter is when the story will actually get interesting, lol. But at least Lance got to meet Alfor in this chapter! Unfortunately, we all know what happens at the party.
> 
> By the way, the song that Lance plays on his phone for a few seconds is "PS I Love You" by the Beatles--in this universe, this was the song that his mother would sing him to sleep with. Remember this; it'll be pretty significant later on.


	9. A Home Away From Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds a home away from home and decides that he'll protect it with everything he has.

“The monster fell from the sky!” The Arusian King says dramatically. “It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!”

The Arusians acting out the play scramble, and the five who are acting as Voltron fall to the ground.

“No, I said _Voltron_ was victorious!”

Mini-Voltron rushes to put itself back together again as the Arusians playing the robeast fall to the floor limply. The Arusians cheer. 

“Thank you, your majesty,” Allura says, “for that wonderful production. It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon. Your Highness, please accept this token of gratitude. It will allow you to contact us any time you need help.” Allura hands the King a small white object, which he accepts gratefully.

“Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance,” Allura concludes happily, causing the Arusians to cheer loudly once again.

“We ought to get something like that,” Hunk says to Lance and Keith. 

“Like what?” Lance asks, sizing up the gray liquid sloshing around in his mug. Coran had called the concoction _Nunvill,_ which didn’t sound too appetizing at the time and still doesn’t now.

“You know, like, a cheer! Like, a team cheer that we do!”

Lance puts his free hand to his chin and thinks. “Huh, yeah. Okay. How ‘bout, uh… _I say Vol, you say Tron!_ Vol…”

Keith stares at Lance like he’s grown another head. “Uh… Voltron?” He asks slowly.

“No, the cheer includes the instructions. _I say Vol, and you say…”_

“Voltron?” Keith asks again.

Lance sighs, “We’ll work on it.” He brings his mug to his lips apprehensively and sips the Nunvill. A wave of coldness runs through Lance, who shivers before swallowing the drink. “Coran, what _is_ this?!”

“Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the Gods!” Coran chirps, gesturing his own cup of the disgusting drink.

“Tastes like hot dog water and feet,” Lance manages, the Nunvill’s taste lingering on his tongue.

“Makes a wonderful hair tonic as well,” Coran says, turning and walking towards Shiro. Lance sighs and turns back to Hunk and Keith, unable to speak anymore.

The two flit around him worriedly, checking for any signs of life. Lance just stands there, waiting for the sweet release of death. Keith pokes his arm, and Lance falls to the ground. Hunk helps him to his feet just as Keith takes a huge gulp of the Nunvill. Instantly, he does a spit take. Hunk turns to shield himself.

“Ow, my eyes!” Hunk wails, turning to reveal that he’s place two dessert kebabs over his eyes. Lance, Keith, and the Arusians burst into a fit of laughter. Lance makes sure to remember how Keith laughs.

Once the laughter dies down, however, Lance looks at the Nunvill in his cup. “I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we’ll get back home again?”

“Yeah, if ever,” Hunk says dismissively. 

Lance looks up with wide eyes, completely unaware of the fact that Keith is staring at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if Zarkon has been ruling for ten thousand years, how long do you think it’ll take for us to fix it? We might not even be able to.”

Lance goes red in the face. “Don’t say that! We _have_ to defeat Zarkon!”

“Woah, bud,” Hunk places a hand on Lance’s shoulder, but Lance shrugs it off angrily. “Calm down.”

“No! If we don’t defeat Zarkon, the world will be enslaved. I can’t lose Earth, man, I already lost my real pa--” Lance stops mid-sentence.

“Your real what?” Hunk asks worriedly. “Dude, are you okay?’

Lance wipes his eyes, suddenly aware of the tears forming in them. “Nothing. I’m fine.” He turns to leave and talk to Allura, but Hunk places a hand on his shoulder. 

“Lance,” He says disappointedly. “C’mon, what is it?”

“I said I’m _fine!”_ Lance huffs, turning and walking up the stairs. He finds an abandoned hallway and sits there, trying and failing to calm himself down. Lance runs a hand through his hair, but it doesn’t work. It doesn’t match the way that his sisters would absentmindedly play with his hair and hum soothing tunes until he fell asleep drowsily.

“Hey,” Lance hears a voice echo through the hall. “Listen, I know I’m the last person you want to see right now, but… We’re all pretty worried about you. You seem off, even to Shiro and I. And we’ve only known you for a week or so.”

It’s Keith.

“I’m fine,” Lance sighs unconvincingly, but Keith doesn’t budge. He sits beside Lance in the dark hall and dismisses the uncomfortable silence.

“You’re not,” Keith says. “What’s wrong?”

Lance sighs, weighing his options. He could tell Keith, but why would Keith want to know? “Do you remember our first day of training? When Allura took me off to the side? And when I came back, I was acting super weird?”

“Yeah…?”

“I learned something really disturbing that day. And since then, I’ve been trying to come to terms with it.”

“So you’ve been hiding something from us,” Keith deadpans. Lance panics, his body tensing.

“I mean,” Lance rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah. Kind of. Because this is, like, a life-changing thing and I need to accept it before I can actually tell you guys. I don’t have anything against the team, I swear.”

“So that’s why you wouldn’t let anyone in your head that day?”

Lance hums in response. “That was why I couldn’t form Voltron with the mind-reading helmets. I couldn’t keep everyone out and form Voltron at the same time.”

“I know you won’t tell me, but… What could be so bad about it?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. I’m going to tell you guys soon,” Lance says.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with Zarkon?” Keith asks. “You went ballistic when Hunk said we might not defeat him. I know how you feel, and I get it, but… This isn’t a game. This is real, and sometimes, bad things have to happen. There really is a chance we might not defeat Zarkon.”

“Yeah,” Lance sighs. “I know. I just… My family is on Earth. If we don’t defeat Zarkon, he’ll enslave them. I don’t care if I die doing this, so long as they’re safe. They’re my top priority.”

Keith doesn’t answer.

Lance stands and stretches. “I’m going to go find Coran. Nobody’s talked to him tonight.”

Keith mumbles a response and stays seated. Lance searches the ballroom for Coran and is unable to find him. Finally, Lance finds him in the Holodeck, looking at the holographic maps of the stars.

“Hey, Coran,” Lance greets. “How’s the party?”

“A bit of a bore,” Coran responds. “In my day, our parties raged for quintants at a time! Everything was so lively. Though, I suppose that this gathering might be a bit more… _Docile._ After all, it’s a diplomatic gala.”

Lance sits down on a platform and rests his arms on his knees. He looks up at the stars being displayed. “How far away do you think we are from Earth?”

“Let’s take a look!” Coran approaches the holograph, then types in some coordinates. “Earth is over here.” He points to a small planet, then begins scrolling on the map. “And we’re all… The way… Over--”

Lance feels something tighten in his chest. “You ever notice how far the planets are from each other, Coran?”

“Yes! Haven’t you been paying attention?”

“Yeah, but I mean…” Lance stands and takes a few steps closer to the display. “Like, they’re really, _really_ far away. Like… Say, Earth? It’s so far away, I can’t even see it.”

Coran doesn’t answer. Lance feels his eyes start to sting, and he wipes at them profusely.

“The… The blue oceans, the white clouds, the green grass--I can’t see any of it.”

“You miss Earth,” Coran says softly. “I understand. I miss Altea.”

“I know we’re supposed to be brave paladins and Defenders of the Universe, but… Honestly? I just want to go back to Earth.” Lance hangs his head.

“If I could go home, I would.”

“But I don’t _have_ a home now. Both Altea and my parents are gone. Earth and my family back there… They’re galaxies away.”

“Nonsense,” Coran says. “We’re your home… Well, your home away from home.”

Lance smiles. “Thanks, Coran.” He looks at the planets once again, “I miss rain. And splashing in puddles.”

“Rain?”

“Yeah. It’s water that falls from the sky,” Lance says, remembering how wonderful it felt to run around in the rain on cloudy afternoons. 

“Oh, we had that on Altea,” Coran sighs contently. “Only, it wasn’t water--more like rocks. Razor sharp and boiling hot. They could knock a hole right in your head.”

Lance offers a small grin, “Sounds fun.”

Coran stares at the display. “Yeah,” He smiles. After a few seconds of silence, he turns to Lance. “We’ll defeat Zarkon, and you’ll be able to return to Earth. I promise.”

Lance looks at Coran thoughtfully. “You really think so?”

“I _know_ so,” Coran smiles. He sighs, “We should get back to the party.”

Without another word, Coran turns and walks towards the door. Lance follows him, and as he leaves, Rover, Pidge’s tiny robotic companion, hovers into the room slowly.

Lance turns as Rover flies past him. “Hey, Rover,” He greets, knowing full well that Rover can’t answer him. Rover flies upwards, towards the sparkling crystal hanging from the ceiling. 

Suddenly, something dawns upon Lance. He stops in his tracks and turns, eyeing Rover suspiciously. The tiny drone is making a series of beeping noises. “Wait...” Lance says. “Where’s Pidge?”

The blue engravings on Rover’s sides turn blood red as the robot begins to beep faster, almost as if an alarm is being sounded. Lance gasps.

That’s not Rover.

“Coran, look out!” Lance says, turning and diving forwards, knocking Coran to the ground in an effort to shield him. Behind him, Rover explodes, red and orange flashing in his peripheral vision. The sound of the blast is the only thing he can hear, but once that fades, his ears begin to ring. The blast hits his back at full force, but thankfully doesn’t touch Coran. Lance cries out as a piece of shrapnel grazes his side and digs into his skin in a place where his armor is scarce.

Lance lies on his back, feeling blood pool beneath him. He doesn’t know how long he lies there, but as he waits, he fades in and out of consciousness, delirious from the pain that ripples through his side. Lance can hear Coran struggling to move beside him, but says nothing, instead choosing to focus on keeping his breathing steady. But it’s hard to do such a thing when blood is staining your skin.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps is able to be heard, along with a chorus of coughing. Lance can’t see through all of the thick, gray smoke, but he knows the group is most likely his teammates.

“Coran!” Allura’s says worriedly.

“What happened?” Shiro asks.

Coran groans. “I’m not sure.” He pauses, taking a ragged breath. “Lance,” He manages. “I think Lance is hurt.”

The smoke clears, and Lance is able to see Allura and the rest of the paladins behind her. “Lance!” Allura exclaims, running to his side. Shiro is right behind her. He lifts Lance’s arms up, inspecting him for any injuries.

“Lance?” Shiro asks quietly. He raises his voice and tries again, “Lance!”

Lance lets out a pained breath. “Man, nobody told me dying would hurt this badly.” 

“He’s bleeding from his side. I think he got hit in the blast,” Shiro concludes, looking over his shoulder. “He saved Coran.”

“We have to get Lance to the infirmary!” Pidge says.

“The crystal is our source of power. It was destroyed,” Allura says. “Without it, the Castle has no power at all.”

“He doesn’t look good,” Shiro says.

“Gee, thanks,” Lance mumbles.

“Lion warriors!” The Arusian King’s voice reverberates through the room, causing Lance to groan from oversensitivity. The King continues speaking, begging for help after informing Allura that his village is under attack.

“I’ll go see what’s happening in the Arusian village,” Keith says.

“I’ll go with you, Keith,” Allura says firmly. “I brought this on the poor Arusians.” She turns to leave, but looks over her shoulder at Lance, who watches her intently.

“Be safe,” Lance says, unsure of who he’s talking to.

“We have to get a new crystal to get the castle working again,” Coran says. “But to get a new crystal, we need a ship.”

“The pod I was loading!” Pidge says intently. “We can use that! I left the bay door open.”

“I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there’s a Balmera nearby,” Coran looks at Hunk. “Hunk, you come with me. I need someone strong to help me carry the crystal.” Coran turns to leave, but Lance makes a noise in protest, startling him.

“Hunk,” Lance manages. “If I don’t make it and you get back to Earth--”

“Don’t you dare!” Hunk says. “You’re gonna make it, buddy!”

 _”Hunk,”_ Lance demands. “If I don’t make it and you guys get back to Earth, tell my mother that I’m sorry and that I love her. And that I know about my real parents.”

“Your…?” Hunk asks. “Lance, I thought--”

“We have to go!” Coran says, pulling Hunk into the hallway. Hunk glances at Lance worriedly, but Lance looks away as the door closes. 

Shiro looks at Lance, who feels like he’s finally fading into unconsciousness. “I guess it’s just you and me, buddy.” Shiro picks Lance up as if he’s a ragdoll and gently drapes him over his shoulder, careful to avoid Lance’s wound.

“Man, you’re strong,” Lance mumbles softly, black dancing around the edges of his vision. The darkness gets closer to the center of Lance’s vision, swallowing everything in sight, and suddenly, Lance feels himself go limp as he falls into an unwanted sleep.

When Lance wakes, it’s only for a brief second, and he can hardly see anything. Shiro is stalemated with a huge half-cyborg, half-Galra creature--Lance recognizes him as Sendak. Suddenly, his body is dropped to the floor by whoever had been carrying him, and someone kicks his side forcefully. Lance cries out in pain before blacking out once again.

Once again, Lance is brought out of his sleep. He’s on the Holodeck, and Keith looks like he’s about to attack Sendak, who is holding Pidge. Lance groans, summons his bayard, and raises it weakly.

“Stand back!” Sendak booms, staring Keith down. 

Lance aims, tightens his grip on the rifle, and fires, hitting Sendak square in the back and causing him to drop Pidge. Lance looks at the barrel of his smoking bayard, then at Sendak, who is glaring at him maliciously. Lance laughs weakly. “Don’t fucking mess with my team,” He mumbles before dropping his bayard and collapsing, his head hitting the floor as he does so. 

This time, Lance doesn’t black out, but he _does_ close his eyes to avoid seeing spots dance around his eyes--a result of the pain in his side. He hears grunts and shouts, which are soon followed by Sendak’s shouts of dismay and a thumping noise. Sendak has been trapped within a barrier.

Lance opens his eyes and uses one hand to rub the spots out of his vision. Keith walks up to him timidly. “Lance, are you okay?”

Keith offers Lance a hand, which he takes gratefully. He doesn’t allow Keith to pull him up, though. “We did it,” Lance says hoarsely at a level that almost matches a whisper. “We _are_ a good team.”

Keith only smiles at him and helps him to his feet. As Lance walks, he finds it easy to ignore the pain in his side when the warm feeling in his heart is much more powerful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost didn't want to write this chapter. But then I remembered that it'll only prepare me for writing future scenes in which Lance gets hurt (one of which will be soon, haha).


	10. It's Never the Right Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance attempts to make things right.

Lance doesn’t know why, but when he wakes, he’s standing upright in a cryopod. After a few seconds, he remembers the gaping hole in his side and presses on the glass, which hisses and vanishes. Lance puts a hand on his side and feels smooth, silky fabric instead of pain. His wound has been healed, and if anything, he feels better than ever.

Lance shivers and rubs his arms, stumbling forward, where he realizes everyone has congregated and are chatting earnestly.

“Winning what?” Keith asks. “The intergalactic time measuring competition?”

Lance forces himself to walk forward, still swaying slightly. His legs ache. “You guys having a clock party?”

Everyone turns to look at him in surprise. Hunk startles, then pouts. “Aw, Lance, you just ruined it!” Then, as if a lightswitch has been flipped in Hunk’s brain, his eyes widen. “Wait--Lance!”

One minute, Lance is wobbling on the balls of his feet, and the next, he’s been swept up in a bone-crushing hug from Hunk. After being released, Lance grunts and sucks in a gulp of air.

“What happened?” Lance asks tiredly.

“We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?” Allura says, beaming at him. 

Lance nods, offering Allura a weak smile as he’s led into the kitchen unwillingly. Hunk prepares him a bowl of food goo and sets it down in front of him. “Eat,” He demands. “You nearly got killed. You need some food.”

Lance grins at him and eats a spoonful of food goo. “Okay, so… What happened while I was out?”

“Well, what do you remember?” Pidge asks.

Lance racks his brain. “I remember… An explosion. And that I needed to protect Coran. And then I got hit with something in the blast, and… I told Hunk my final wishes, or something. After that, it’s just bits and pieces.”

“Yeah, Lance, about that,” Hunk interrupts, “what did you mean by ‘real parents?’ I thought--”

“Nothing,” Lance says quickly, laughing it off. “I was probably delirious from the pain.”

“So, after you blacked out, Shiro found out that Sendak had ambushed us and thinned our defenses by creating a diversion,” Pidge says. “I was inside the castle, since I didn’t actually have anything to do. Shiro and Sendak had a fight, but the sentries threatened to kill you if Shiro kept fighting, so he had to give up. After that, they put up the particle barrier and tried to blast off the castle so they could bring Zarkon the Lions.”

“So how did we defeat Sendak?” Lance questions, taking another bite of goo. 

“Allura contacted the mice, and they shut down the particle barrier while Pidge fought one of Sendak’s generals,” Coran says.

“Yeah. And then, after Sendak caught me, Keith and Allura made it onto the Holodeck and were about to fight him. But then--” Pidge cuts himself off, pausing for breath. _”Somehow,_ you woke up, picked up your bayard, and shot him square in the back. Then you told him not to mess with us and fell unconscious again.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah!” Pidge nods enthusiastically. “The weird thing is, you weren’t aiming for his neck or anything to kill him. You hit him right where you wanted to hit. Like, that was a really lucky shot.”

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Were you seriously not there when I dragged Hunk to my late-night training sessions at the Garrison?”

“...No?” Pidge shrugs.

“Dude!” Hunk says. “Lance can take out anyone with anything. He’s great with anything that involves aiming, but he’s _really_ good with rifles.”

Lance flushes. “Yeah, yeah,” He mumbles. “What happened next?”

“We trapped Sendak on the Holodeck and transported him to a cryopod. He’s not healing or anything, but we needed a place to keep him out of trouble,” Hunk says.

“You’d be Sendak’s prisoner right now, if not for Pidge,” Allura says proudly.

“Well, you wouldn’t have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn’t gotten a new crystal,” Pidge smiles.

“Wow,” Lance scrapes his bowl clean of the last of his food goo and offers it to the mice, who nibble on it gratefully. “Thanks, everybody.” He looks up at Keith. “Sounds like the mice did more than you, though.”

Keith’s jaw drops, offense written all over his face. “I _punched_ Sendak!”

“Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and _shot his arm off.”_

“We had a bonding moment! I _cradled you in my arms!”_

Lance tries to hide the pink blush that creeps up his neck. Did that really happen?

“Nope,” Lance shakes his head and relaxes his shoulders. “Don’t remember. Didn’t happen. So,” He says, turning to Allura. “What’s the plan now?”

“We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people,” Hunk says firmly. Lance turns to face him, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Wow, you are _really_ hung up on this lady.”

“No, it’s not like that!” Hunk glares at Lance. “Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home… They’ve been under his thumb for so long, they don’t even know what it is to be free! It’s up to us to fix things. _this_ is what being a paladin is all about.”

Lance and Pidge share a knowing glance as Hunk concludes, “It’s time to man up.”

Lance watches as Pidge deflates. He tilts his head in confusion.

“Then let’s get moving,” Shiro says, “time to defend the universe.”

Pidge hesitates before turning to leave, calling after his teammates. Lance stays beside him, sensing that he has something important to say. “Wait, I have something to say first.”

Everyone stops and turns to look at Pidge, who seems to be fiddling with his sleeve absentmindedly.

“I need to come clean. I have something to say, and I’m afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore--” At this, Lance’s ears turn red. There _definitely_ aren’t any secrets that he’s keeping. “--I can’t _’man up.’”_

Pidge pauses and takes a deep breath. “I’m a girl.”

Lance’s jaw drops.

“Well, I mean, I can ‘man up,’ because that’s just a figure of speech. I don’t actually have to be a man to--”

“You’re a girl?” Lance asks. “How?”

“Uh, Iverson swore that ‘Katie Holt’ would never step foot on Garrison property again. So Pidge Gunderson was born,” Pidge explains, pushing his--no, _her--_ glasses up to meet the bridge of her nose. “You guys can still call me ‘Pidge,’ by the way.”

“I’ve known for quite some time, but I’m glad you’ve shared it with everyone,” Allura smiles.

“Yeah, I figured. I read your diary,” Hunk interjects.

“Oh, yeah. Me, too,” Keith says nonchalantly.

“Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?” Coran asks.

“Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin,” Shiro encourages. 

Pidge sighs in relief, her shoulders relaxing as she lets out a long breath. “It’s good to get that off my chest. Now, let’s launch this castle-ship.”

“Wait, what?” Lance throws up his hands. “Pidge is a girl and the castle is a ship? How long was I out?”

Allura rolls her eyes and leads everyone onto the Holodeck, where she stands in the center and relaxes as she’s bathed in blue light. Slowly, five metal chairs rise up from the floor. Lance walks over to the blue one tentatively and sits in it, finding it surprisingly comfortable.

Allura waves her hands, and two podium-like objects rise up to meet her hands. “Activating interlock,” She commands.

“Dynotherms connected,” Coran says.

“Mega-thrusters are go.”

“We’re ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark, Princess,” Coran announces.

“Firing main engines for launch!”

The castle rumbles and slowly launches. Lance grins as he feels himself being pushed into his seat due to force. Soon, the castle-ship has left Arus’s atmosphere completely and is making its way towards an empty, barren party of space that only seems to be filled with stars.

After being told that they’re free to do whatever they please, everyone scatters, leaving Allura and Coran to pilot the castle alone. Lance makes his way into the ballroom and up the stairs, then into the small hallway that holds the room he’s looking for. He puts his hand up to the wall, about to activate the scanner, which will allow him to enter the room, but his plans of visiting Alfor are ruined by a loud, curious voice cutting through the silence.

“Lance? Where are you going?” 

Lance shouts in alarm, jumping back and falling into a pair of strong arms. He looks up and sees a confused Hunk. “Hunk!” Lance sighs in relief. “You scared me!”

“Sorry. I was walking back to my room when I saw you, and I decided to follow you. I’ve never been down this hallway before.”

Lance stands and straightens his armor.

“Where are you going? Where does that door lead?” Hunk asks curiously, and Lance chews his lip.

“Nowhere,” He lies. “It’s just a room where I go to nap sometimes.”

Hunk narrows his eyes. “You were asleep in a healing pod for an entire day. I don’t think you’re tired.”

“I’m totally tired!” Lance fakes a yawn and crosses his arms defiantly. “See? I yawned.”

Hunk frowns. “Anyways, I came to ask what you really meant the other day.”

Lance’s eyes widen, and he attempts to play dumb, rushing out a confused jumble of words. “Could you be more specific? I say a lot of things.”

“The thing about your ‘real parents,’” Hunk says slowly. “I thought…?”

Lance sighs. He could reveal to Hunk and the rest of the team that he’s Altean, but what if it changes the way they view him? What if it breaks the trust between the paladins? Or worse, what if it destroys the friendships that Lance has established?

“Lance?”

“When I was about half a year old, I was… I was sent to live with my mom and dad. That’s why I don’t look like them. They’re not my biological parents.”

“Then who _are_ your biological parents?” Hunk asks.

Lance hesitates and thinks about his answer before speaking. “They’re dead. They’ve been dead for a long, long time.”

“Oh, my god…” Hunk says quietly, his voice a bit raspy. Instantly, he launches forward, enveloping Lance in a huge, warm hug. “I’m so sorry, Lance! I never should have pried!”

“Hunk!” Lance attempts to pull away from the hug, but it’s no use. “It’s fine, really. I’m fine. I swear.”

“Are you sure?” Hunk mumbles. “Because--”

“Yes!” Lance laughs, after which Hunk releases him from the hug. “Now, uh, can I take my nap?”

“Totally!” Hunk nods, squeezing Lance’s shoulder affectionately before turning to leave. He speaks as he walks down the hallway, his sentence only ending when he leaves the room: “By the way, if you ever need to talk, I’m always going to be here. If you ever need me, I’ll be there for you at any time. I promise.”

Lance smiles, the grin reaching his eyes as he activates the scanner on the wall and presses his finger into it. It’s programmed to only open in the presence of Altean DNA--it’s a safety precaution that ensures Alfor’s safety.

As soon as the door closes behind him, Lance is whisked away, and suddenly, all that surrounds him for miles and miles is a field of juniberries. His father’s hologram appears, at which he smiles. Alfor doesn’t return the smile, and instead beckons him forward.

“Allura told me that you were injured and had to be put in a healing pod. Why aren’t you resting?”

“I’m fine,” Lance insists. “I really am. We’re on our way to liberate a planet, and the ride will take a while, so I decided to come and talk to you.”

“Lance, you need to rest,” Alfor reprimands. “Besides, you’ve visited me twice in the last two days. Don’t you think your team may be a bit suspicious?”

Lance sighs, “You’re right. I should be talking to them. But I’m afraid that I’ll accidentally let it slip that I’m Altean,” He says.

“What’s keeping you from telling them?”

“I’m scared that they’ll view me differently. That they won’t think of me as ‘Lance,’ but ‘Lance the alien.’” Lance combs a hand through his hair stiffly.

“Lance,” Alfor says in a calm, soothing tone. “If your team is truly as great as you have told me, none of this will affect the way they view you.”

Lance nods slowly, his shoulders relaxing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Now,” Alfor smiles. “Go talk to everyone. They may be wondering where you are.”

“Fine,” Lance says, turning to leave. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Goodbye, Lance,” Alfor says behind him just as Lance steps towards the door. The juniberries surrounding him disappear, and he walks through the door tiredly. Once it closes behind him, Lance walks to the Holodeck and finds everyone waiting boredly.

“Okay,” Hunk says, not noticing Lance walk inside. “So, when we get there, do we just roll in, guns-a-blazing? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, like, _’Attention, Galra, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in.’”_

Lance sits down next to Pidge, who startles before realizing it’s Lance. 

Hunk waits for an answer, but receives none. “No? Okay. Blasting, right?”

“Hunk,” Keith says, “calm down. And, yes, blasting.”

“It’s our first big rescue mission,” Shiro defends, “he’s excited.”

Pidge grins at Hunk. “Excited to see his new _girlfriend!”_

Hunk makes an offended noise and crosses his arms. “She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a rock that I met and admire very much.”

Suddenly, a beeping noise sounds through the castle. Lance flinches. 

“What is it?” Shiro asks. “Are we being attacked?”

“No, it seems to be a distress beacon,” Coran answers, typing something on his holographic keyboard.

“It’s coming from a nearby moon,” Allura says. “Apparently, a ship has lost power.”

“I wonder who it is,” Pidge says thoughtfully.

“Whoever it is will have to wait,” Hunk says, his hands on his hips. “Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we’re done.”

“The Paladin Code states that we must help _all_ those in need,” Allura argues.

“This is so cool!” Lance interrupts. “It’s like we’re space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?”

“No,” Coran calls, “but we _can_ record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them.”

“Perfect!” Lance grins. He opens his mouth and begins to make a siren noise, but Pidge kicks him in the shin and Shiro puts a hand over his mouth.

“Nope,” Shiro grins, “not doing that.”

Lance huffs and crosses his arms, realizing that now could be the perfect time to reveal to everyone that he’s Altean. He takes a deep breath and “Oh, yeah, guys, you’re never going to believe it. Get this: I’m--”

Allura’s voice interrupts him as the castle prepares to land on the moon where the distress beacon originated. “We’re landing,” She says. “I’m going to broadcast a message to them.”

Lance deflates as the castle shudders and lands on the moon, wondering if he’ll ever find the right time to tell his team about his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, for which I'm sorry. On the bright side, I have a Klance standalone coming out soon! It's going to be very sweet and also a lot longer than what I'm used to writing, so be prepared :). Hope you enjoyed!


	11. Lance is not Straight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance ponders his future.

Once the castle-ship has landed, the paladins and Allura greet the people who sent out the distress beacon. There’s Rolo, a tall, rugged guy whose skin is tinted purple, Nyma, a yellow woman with appendages fashioned to look like ponytails, and Beezer, a cyber-unit that resembles a cat. (Pidge seems to have fallen in love with the latter.)

“Was your ship damaged in a fight?” Shiro asks.

“Yeah,” Rolo sighs. “We’ve really been through it with the Galra. Parts are hard to come by. Luckily, we were able to limp to this moon a about a cycle ago. If you hadn’t picked up on our distress signal…”

“We’re happy to help,” Allura interjects. “I am Princess Allura of Altea. From now on, you won’t be alone fighting the Galra. You’ll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side.”

Rolo raises an eyebrow. “Okay,” He says uncertainly.

“I don’t think they’ve heard of us,” Shiro says to Allura.

“It _has_ been ten thousand years,” Keith points out.

“Voltron?” Lance deadpans. “Five giant robot lions that combine into this big… Robot… Guy?”

“Sounds impressive,” Rolo says, and Lance swears that he sees Rolo wink at him. “I’d love to see it.”

Lance feels his face turn red. Though he’s mainly the one doing all of the flirting, he’s never responded well to someone else flirting with him.

“Why don’t we get to work on your ship?” Hunk asks. 

“Sure,” Rolo says, walking towards his small shuttle. He opens up a panel filled with advanced machinery. “Pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot. I don’t know what kind of extra parts you carry in this rig of yours--I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“I’m sure we can get you back up and running,” Allura says kindly. “Give Hunk a list of what you need, and Coran can show you where to find it.”

Beezer beeps, and within seconds, a paper-like substance shoots from a slot where its mouth seems to be. Rolo takes it and hands it to Hunk.

“Thanks,” Hunk mumbles, turning and boarding the ship hastily. While Hunk and Coran gather parts for Rolo’s shuttle, Lance helps Rolo build a fire using the limited materials on the planet. Eventually, it roars to life, and Lance puts his hands near it for warmth, soaking up the feeling that spreads through his fingertips and into his arms.

“My planet was destroyed by the Galra, and I was taken captive,” Rolo says to no one in particular. “I managed to escape, but not without losing something.” He pulls down his boot and reveals a prosthetic leg, then knocks on it for good measure.

“I know exactly how that feels,” Shiro stretches his arm.

“So, what can you tell us about the Galra? Where are they concentrated?”

“Well, his command ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He rules everything from there and has his minions do the work, depending on who’s closest.”

“How far are we from the center?” Shiro inquires.

“We’re way out on the fringes--” Rolo begins, but is cut off by Hunk, who walks up to the fire with his helmet tucked underneath his arm.

“Hey, guys, I don’t mean to be rude, but I think you’re keeping Rolo and Nyma from working. It’s just… We’re in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life and I promised to come back and liberate her planet.”

“Sure,” Rolo stands, beckoning for Nyma to follow him. “Sorry.”

Lance follows Rolo, and behind him trails everyone else (excluding Pidge, who is messing around with Beezer, and Hunk, who’s gathering more parts). Lance leans against the ship, whereas Keith, Shiro, and Allura keep their distance. 

“Need any help?” Lance asks.

“Nah,” Rolo grunts, replacing a thermal pipe. “But it’s good to have a pretty face to talk to.”

Lance flushes. “Yeah, well, you’re not so bad yourself.”

In seconds, it registers in Lance’s mind that everyone is watching this happen. 

Keith looks like he’s about to self-destruct. “You realize Rolo is, like, a dude?” He says, his voice a bit more high-pitched than usual.

“Uh, yeah,” Lance rolls his eyes. “Wait, dude, did you _seriously_ think I was straight?”

“Yes?” Keith shrugs.

Lance snorts. “Hey, Pidge!” He yells at Pidge, who is standing a couple hundred yards away. She looks at him curiously. “Am I straight?”

Pidge bursts into laughter. “You’d hit on anything that walks and you know it.”

Lance smirks. “See?”

Keith still looks amazed, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and his mouth hanging open.

“Problem?” Lance asks defensively.

“No!” Keith rushes out. “No, no, that’s totally fine! Yeah. It’s fine.”

Lance grins. “Kidding. But, seriously, if you weren’t fine with it, I’d have to punch you.”

Keith says nothing, and Lance returns to his pastime--leaning against the broken ship and staring at the horizon. This planet is quite beautiful once Lance is able to overlook the strange foliage. It’s naturally dark--there isn’t a sun in this solar system, and the only light that’s available is from a moon that doesn’t shine very brightly, considering there’s no light to hit it directly. The sky is a cloudless, dark shade of magenta, and the violet ground is littered with dozens upon dozens of orange shrubbery. Lance absentmindedly grinds his foot into the dirt.

“All right!” Hunk cheers. “I repaired the thermal pipe and the assembly around it. That _should_ fix it, unless there’s something wrong with the engine. I doubt it, though.”

“Great,” Rolo grins. “Thanks for your help. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you guys,” He says. Nyma nods and pats Beezer’s head. The robot emits of a series of beeping noises that Lance thinks are Beezer’s way of saying thanks. 

“It’s no problem,” Allura says. 

“I really hope you guys defeat Zarkon.” Rolo opens the door to the shuttle, and Nyma climbs inside and drops down a ramp for Beezer. “For the future generations’ sake. If you stop him, they’ll have the chance to grow up unoppressed. I’m rooting for you guys.”

Allura thanks them for their kind wishes, and Rolo finally climbs inside and starts the engine. The shuttle roars to life and hovers a few feet off the ground before flying away hastily.

“Now that these guys are dealt with, let’s get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family,” Hunk says, and he almost sounds relieved that he doesn’t have to deal with Rolo and his crew anymore. 

Shiro nods and follows Allura as she marches back to the castle confidently. Lance notices that her hair is pulled up, and as a result, her ears are more noticeable. Lance ponders this when the ship takes off once again; when he reveals himself to be Altean and finally puts on his royal circlet, what will he look like? He, too, will have white hair, but will anything else change?

Lance works up the courage to ask Coran what will happen. 

“Oh, the process will be very painful!” He chirps. “You see, rather than your human features morphing into your true Altean ones steadily, your features… Well, since your father changed your appearance to match the Earthlings’ anatomy, you’ll quite literally grow your original features. Your hair will turn white slowly, your ears will get longer, and your markings will grow out of your face. Oh, interesting tidbit--we don’t know what your markings will look like. Your mother’s side of the family was known for unpredictable markings, so you may very well have something very different from the ones that Allura and I share. They may not even be the same color!”

Lance feels bile rise up in his throat. “That sounds… Fun,” He manages. 

“Oh, no, not at all. You’ll feel like you’re dying. Alas, there’s no other way to acquire these things.” Coran pats Lance’s shoulder comfortingly. “On the bright side, when you _do_ put on the diadem, your father will be thrilled!”

“Yeah,” Lance breathes and forces a smile. “Cool. Thanks, Coran.”

Lance runs a hand through his hair tiredly and sits down by the stairs. He doesn’t mean to, but he falls asleep with his back against a stair. He’s hardly asleep, so he doesn’t have any super-vivid dreams, but he does dream of a tall, tan boy with white hair and dazzling blue markings framing his eyes, a pink and blue cape flowing behind him gracefully as he walks, and when Lance wakes, he sighs, rubs his eyes, and buries his head in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update! My life has been pretty hectic--my aunt died last Friday, and my keyboard broke, so I was scrambling to find a new one to write with. Hopefully, my schedule will even out soon, and I'll be able to give you guys longer, more frequent chapters. :)


	12. Tears of the Balmera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance stresses himself out.

Lance is gently shaken awake by Allura, whose lips are pursed in a thin line. “We’ll be arriving at the Balmera soon, and I had to wake you to warn you of something.”

Lance sits up and rubs his eyes. “Yeah?”

“The Galra are harvesting the Balmera’s crystals.”

“And that’s a bad thing because…?” Lance asks.

Allura sighs. “The Balmera isn’t just a planet. It’s a living creature. Petrified, but still alive. Their bodies create the crystals that help power all kinds of ships. Altean must perform a rejuvenation ceremony after extracting the crystal. But… The Galra have turned all available Balmera into mining colonies without performing the ceremony. They’re killing the Balmera. I’m afraid I may have to perform the ceremony for the entire planet, which could be life-threatening.”

“What?” Lance shakes his head, a thousand alarms going off in his head. “You can’t do that! You said it yourself--it could be life-threatening! You could _die!”_

“That’s a risk I’ll have to take,” Allura says. “If I don’t help these Balmerans, their planet will be destroyed.”

“You said whoever performed the ceremony had to be Altean, right?”

“Yes…” Allura responds, unsure of where this is going. “But--”

“Then let me do it. I’ll put on the crown. I’ll tell everyone that I’m Altean. I don’t want to see you get hurt, so please, let me do it.”

“Thank you, Lance,” Allura sighs, “but no. I’m perfectly capable of holding my own. Focus on your mission.”

Allura promptly leaves the room, and Lance can’t shake the feeling that he’s angered her somehow. Lance chews his lip and enters the Holodeck, where everyone has congregated. Allura, who has returned to her podium, is piloting the ship towards a barren green planet.

“Liberating these Balmerans will not be easy,” Allura says, ignoring Lance. 

“How are we going to do anything?” Hunk asks. “We can’t just shoot at the Balmera. It’s, like, alive. And from what we’ve seen, it doesn’t look very good.”

“It’s an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this magnificent beast,” Coran agrees. “Stealing its crystals--its very life force--without even performing the rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it.”

“After seeing Shay’s people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is,” Hunk says, his expression grim and serious. “And we’re the only ones who can stop him.”

“Okay,” Shiro nods, “so, we can’t go into the tunnels guns-a-blazing. Plan B--we need to find a way to draw the Galra up to the surface so we can battle them out there.”

“If we attack all of their mining equipment on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out and defend it. Then, we beat them up and head down to the tunnels.” Hunk sports a proud grin as he tells everyone his plan.

“But how will we know how many are still left in the tunnels?” Keith asks.

“We can track the Galra and the Balmera using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology,” Allura says, pulling up something on her holographic database.

“Oh, cool!” Pidge says excitedly. “BLIP Tech!”

“One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop the sensors into mining shafts. Then, we’ll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are,” Allura continues.

“I can do it,” Pidge adjusts her glasses. “I just modified the Green Lion with the Invisible Maze’s cloaking abilities. I should be able to fly around unnoticed.”

Coran enters something into a database and pulls up an image of a Galran base. “That’s their main base,” He says. “If you take that down, it’ll severely weaken their defenses.”

“We can stay in the camouflage of the clouds and give tactical support,” Allura chimes in. “But in special circumstances, we may be able to activate the particle barrier and land.”

Lance glares at Allura, who rolls her eyes in response. 

“With the Castle’s defenses weakened by Sendak’s crystal, we might not be of much help to you,” She continues.

“I’ll take out the main base,” Shiro says. “Keith, Lance, and Hunk--you guys take out the big mining rings around the area.”

“Yeah!” Hunk says enthusiastically, pumping his fist in the air for added effect. “Let’s do this! Let’s kick some alien butt!”

Within minutes, the Castle has entered Balmera X-95-Vox’s atmosphere, and the paladins have entered their respective hangars. As soon as Allura gives them a signal, all five lions burst from their hangars and are airborne. Once they’re free from the clouds’ cover, an attack on the lions is launched by the Galra. Lance narrowly dodges a laser by veering to the right.

“This is it,” Shiro says, flying his lion towards the main base. “Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations, and not its surface.”

Lance attacks the rows upon rows of Galran towers that seem to be glowing purple. After taking out most of them, he flies towards the main laser, which towers over all of the other defenses. Keith seems to be trying to figure out how to take it down, and as soon as Lance reaches the laser, Keith’s lion opens its mouth and unleashes a stream of fire on the tower. The heat burns a large hole through the tower, which shudders and creaks.

“Woah, did you guys just see that?” Keith grins. “I got fire power!”

“Hey, I want that!” Lance complains.

Suddenly, the tower gives in to the weight of itself and begins to collapse. 

Keith swears as the tower falls towards the Balmera’s surface, but before it hits, Hunk flies under it and struggles to hold it up.

“Hey!” Hunk says. “We can’t let this thing hurt the Balmera!”

Lance feels something in his head--almost like a tugging sensation, and the warm feeling in his chest that is always accompanied by Blue returns once again. “Hey, guys, I think my lion knows what to do!”

Lance flies Blue closer to the tower and braces her. Once she steadies, her jaw unhinges, and instead of white-hot lasers or molten lava, a beam of ice hits the tower at full-force and inches its way across the entire surface, effectively freezing it into place.

Lance, in awe, lands his lion on top of the frozen tower and waits for his team to join him. “Woah,” he mutters. “Guys, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever done or seen. Pun intended.”

“Fire melts ice, Lance. Technically, Keith is better,” Pidge grins at him. Lance pouts.

“Shut up!”

“Great work, team,” Shiro says, joining the rest of the team on the tower. 

There’s a pause before anyone speaks. “Where are all the troops?” Keith asks the question that’s on everyone’s mind.

“Yeah, I remember seeing a _lot_ of Galra guys down in the mines,” Hunk says, perplexed.

“We’ve located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take them out before they can launch,” Allura interrupts.

“They’re luring us out, but we have no choice,” Shiro sighs. “Keith, Lance, you guys hit the hangar. Hunk, head to the prison and rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge and I will track down the Galra soldiers.”

Lance lands his lion and activates his particle barrier, then deploys his small cruiser. He follows Keith into the cave full of soldiers that is very clearly displayed on his heat sensors--it’s hard to miss the big, blinking red dot in the middle of the green grid. After reaching their destination, Lance exits his pod and crouches behind the cover of a large stalagmite. Keith peers out from behind him, and Lance does the same. Rows and rows of fighter ships are lined up, and they’re all being carefully guarded by sentries.

“The entire hangar’s only being guarded by a few sentries,” Keith says. He summons his bayard and stands. “Let’s go.”

Keith attempts to step forward, but Lance grabs his wrist and pulls him backward. “Woah! Cool your jets, Keith! Don’t you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?”

“Oh, right,” Keith says, crossing his arms.

“Yeah!” Lance nods. “So we can’t just go and blow up things like a crazy person.”

“You got a better idea?” Keith whispers.

“I do,” Lance smirks, pointing at the bay doors. Keith follows his finger and widens his eyes when he sees them. “We sneak into the control room and shut down the bay doors. That’ll trap the ships in.”

“That--!” Keith stops himself. “...Actually… Is a better idea.”

Lance grins and climbs onto a beam that runs across the ceiling, then helps Keith up. The two crouch as they carefully cross the beam over to the roof of the structure. Afterwards, they argue over the location of the control room.

“It’s over here!” Lance whisper-shouts. 

Keith glares at him and summons his bayard. “I know what I’m doing!” He cuts a circle in the roof and steps back for Lance to jump down onto an unsuspecting guard.

“Keep an eye out for those guards,” Lance notes, kicking the lifeless sentry’s foot. “I’ll see if I can find a way to shut these hangar doors.”

Lance examines the screen carefully, but the words are in Galran. Perhaps if they were in Altean, Lance would have an easier time reading the inscriptions. “Nope,” Lance murmurs, more to himself than Keith. “Maybe--” He reaches forward to press a button, but decides against it. “No.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing here!” Lance sighs frustratedly. “It’s all Galra gibberish.”

“Lemme see.” Keith shuffles over and examines the screen, just as Lance had a few minutes prior. He purses his lips, raises an eyebrow, and puts his hand up against a button that Lance had considered pressing.

The bay doors close promptly.

“Woah!” Lance stares, “How’d you do that?”

Keith shrugs. “I… Just put my hand on the handprint.”

“The handprint?” Lance raises an eyebrow. “It looks more like a hoof.”

Keith rolls his eyes just as their comm line opens.

“Paladins, are you there? The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels, towards the center of the Balmera.”

Hunk huffs. “They must be headed towards the core! That’s where they’re holding Shay!”

“They’re drawing us into an ambush, but we have no choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow,” Shiro says. “Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we’re going to need everyone together to get through this firefight.”

“Copy that,” Lance confirms, standing and boosting himself up through the hole in the roof using the disabled sentry’s body. He helps Keith up, and the two run across the ceiling beam to the tunnels, where they take off towards the center on foot.

“Guys, be careful!” Pidge warns. “The Balmera is unstable.”

Lance keeps running, Keith by his side. They return to the mouth of the cave, and as soon as they’re in the open, they’re attacked by sentries. Lance dives behind a part of the cave that’s curved in, and Keith flattens himself against the other side.

“They’re shooting is destroying the Balmera!” Keith says. “We’ve gotta do something!”

Lance tries to ignore the way the Balmera is rumbling unsteadily. “Well, we can’t just shoot back! It’ll make it worse!”

Lance scans his surroundings and notices a flimsy rope ladder hanging from a carved-out area in the cave that leads to the top of the cave itself. Lance points to it, and Keith nods. He turns and scampers up the ladder as Lance flings himself into the open, taunting the sentries with a grin.

Lance activates his shield and tries to deflect as many lasers as he possibly can (which, to his relief, seems to be all of them). Keith jumps down from the cave and activates his bayard, effectively catching the sentries off-guard and destroying them. Lance deactivates his shield and gives Keith a thumbs up.

“Let’s keep moving,” Keith says, pacing himself as he continues to jog forward. Lance groans and follows him, trying to steady the unevenness of his breath.

Finally, when the two reach the center of the Balmera, they stop at a large set of purple doors. “How do we get in?” Lance asks. “If this is a trick, we should just be able to--” He steps forward, and the doors slide open. As soon as they’re both through the doors, they close and lock themselves.

“Where are the Galra? If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us,” Shiro asks as Shay unties the gag around her mouth. Lance studies her. She’s tall, with pale green skin and bright yellow eyes. She seems tired, yet willing to be kind. Lance approves of her for Hunk, but keeps that to himself.

“Not an ambush,” Hunk grimaces. “More like a trap.”

“The Galra,” Shay begins, “they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera. I do not know how, though. They set this trap just for you, and I was the bait.”

“Who could possibly have known that we were coming here to save Shay?” Shiro wonders aloud. 

“Rolo!” Hunk frowns. “Those liars must’ve told Zarkon!”

“We have to figure out how to get out of here,” Shiro announces. 

Shay purses her lips. “Perhaps my people can help.” She places her hand on the wall of the cave. “This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends our messages through the tunnels.”

The wall around Shay’s hand begins to glow yellow, and in the distance, the Balmera makes a whining noise. After a few seconds, she removes her hand from the cave just as everyone’s comm lines open.

“Paladins,” Allura says gravely, “the Lions are in danger. You must return to the Castle immediately.”

Coran says something in the background, and Lance can hear Allura’s breath hitch. “Paladins, do you copy? There’s a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires its ion cannon, I don’t know if we can survive.”

Lance swears under his breath and prays the others don’t hear it. “Yes, we copy. We’re trying to get out, but we’re trapped.”

“Shay, are you sure--” Shiro begins, but cuts himself off when one of the doors crumples and falls to the ground, revealing a group of Balmerans that look similar to Shay. 

“Rax!” Shay says, clearly relieved.

“We must make haste!” The Balmeran in front of the group says. “We know a shortcut through the tunnels!”

The Balmerans turn and hastily exit the cave, forcing the paladins to follow them. 

After reaching a conveniently five-way intersection of tunnels, Shay’s family directs each paladin to go through a tunnel to find their lions. 

“Paladins, hurry! They’re taking off with the lions!” Allura instructs just as Lance reaches the end of the tunnel. Lance passes through Blue’s particle barrier and climbs inside, then slams his foot on the pedal and takes flight.

After Shiro makes sure everyone is in their respective lions, the team flies into battle, taking out Galra cruisers swiftly and efficiently. 

“It’s charging its ion cannon!” Coran yells over the intercom.

“Divert all shields to the bow!” Allura orders. The Castle’s particle barrier shrinks, and by the time it’s finished, only the front of the Castle is covered by the particle barrier. The battle cruiser fires its ion cannon, which hits the shields at full force and knocks the castle back. It doesn’t stop its attack.

“Paladins, we need you!” Allura shouts. “Five more ticks and we’re finished!”

“Okay, team,” Shiro says tenaciously. “Let’s form Voltron!”

Lance feels an overwhelming swelling in his chest--a desire to protect this planet and its inhabitants--and launches his lion forward to form Voltron.

Voltron hurtles towards the battle cruiser and pushes against its bottom, forcing it to move and take the beam from its ion cannon with it. Once it’s out of harm’s way, the Castle diverts all power to its lasers and fires at the cruiser, which explodes. 

“Nice shot, Princess,” Lance grins, his voice mixing with the influx of praise from the Paladins. Just as he’s about to speak again, he notices something in his peripheral vision. Something is falling into the Balmera’s atmosphere, engulfed in orange flames. It crashes to the ground with a noise like thunder and almost knocks Voltron back.

Lance voices the question that’s on everyone’s mind as the dust clears. “What the heck is that?”

It’s definitely Galran, but it’s unlike anything Lance has ever seen from them. It’s almost like a cage--like something is waiting inside. A crude red and purple skull decorates the front of the structure. 

“Trouble,” Shiro answers weakly as the front of the cage falls away, revealing something much worse than Lance ever imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agh! I feel horrible for not updating. I've been swamped with extracurriculars and have had hardly any time to write. Fortunately, I was finally able to update this week. Enjoy!


	13. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance pushes himself too far, and the consequences are grave.

“Please don’t tell me there’s some weird alien monster in there,” Hunk groans. “Why can’t it be full of candy?”

“I don’t think it’s a piñata, Hunk,” Lance grimaces. 

“If it’s the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it,” Keith notes.

Lance hesitates to look at the robeast, but when he does, a shiver runs down his spine. It stands at the same height as Voltron, but it looks much more gruesome. Lance feels sorry for whatever the beast was before it was turned into a mechanical monster.

The robeast is decorated with red and green armor, and the parts of skin that are visible are a soft purple. Jagged teeth jut out from the monster’s skin and rest on top of its mechanical eyes.  
The robeast raises its head and studies Voltron, its eyes turning green. The dent in the armor on its chest, which Lance had assumed was just for show, begins to glow green as well, seemingly sucking something out of the air and charging itself with it. Suddenly, a staggering beam of energy shoots from the robeast’s chest, streaking towards Voltron at lightning speed. Voltron raises its shield and holds its footing, but is pushed backward by sheer force.

“It’s not candy!” Hunk shouts.

“And it’s not the same monster!” Lance adds. The pressure that Voltron is undergoing pushes down on him as well, and he tries to hide his discomfort. 

The attack ceases so that the robeast can recharge, and Voltron takes its chance, launching into the air as the monster stares at it.

“We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera’s surface!” Shiro instructs as the robeast fires another laser at Voltron, this time even more powerful. Lance recoils, his head pounding. It seems that whatever Blue feels, he feels as well. He finds this intriguing and decides to ponder it later as Voltron charges toward the robeast, slashing its arm with Keith’s sword.

The robeast hisses, and as Voltron turns to face it, the monster fires at Voltron’s leg and hits Blue directly. A wave of pain runs through Lance, and he flinches, yelping before regaining his composure. Voltron holds up its shield, but struggles as the creature’s laser becomes more intense. 

“We can’t hold out,” Lance grunts.

“My lion is weakening!” Pidge announces. Lance sighs, knowing that the second the Green Lion’s shield disintegrates, they’ll be toast. “If the shield sustains structural damage, we’re done for!”

“Lance!” Hunk says. “Watch your footing!”

Lance jerks his controls forward, but it’s no use. Voltron falls to the ground, and Lance swears. 

“Okay, team, disband,” Shiro instructs. The lions scatter, circling the robeast carefully. “Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can’t fire at all of us at once!”

The robeast raises its arms, revealing dozens of indentions through which lasers are meant to fire. An array of bright green beams shoot from the robeast’s tentacle-like arms, two of them even grazing Blue’s leg and causing Lance to flinch.

“Okay, it can do that, too!” Shiro says nervously.

Suddenly, the clouds part, and the robeast pauses to see what’s going on. Instantly, it is knocked backward by a beam of blue energy. The Castle of Lions descends towards the Balmera’s surface, its particle barrier protecting it from any future attacks from the monster.

The robeast stumbles, then turns a glowing eye towards the Castle and fires, causing thick gray smoke to rise from the particle barrier.

“Keith,” Shiro instructs. “Try to draw its fire. I’m coming in from above.”

“Roger,” Keith replies shortly, flying his lion towards the robeast and unleashing a blast of molten lava. The monster fires at the Red Lion, and Keith narrowly dodges the dozens of lasers aimed at him. He leaves the monster’s line of vision just as the Black Lion nosedives towards the beast.

The robeast flicks a single eye towards Shiro and fires, forcing him to evade.

“We need to find this thing’s blind spot!” Lance grunts, hitting the robeast with a laser from behind.

“I don’t think this thing _has_ a blind spot,” Pidge comments. “It has fourteen lasers on its arms, and its eyes rotate all the way around. What are we supposed to do? Fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once.”

“Whatever we’re gonna do, we need to do it fast,” Lance says, glancing nervously at one of the Galran base’s towers as it falls to the ground and leaves a crater the size of his lion. “Big Guy over here is hurting the Balmera’s surface.”

“I think we’ve gotta aim for those laser eyes and take ‘em out,” Keith says.

“We’ll cover you from up here,” Allura announces, firing the Castle’s lasers at the robeast’s back. Instantly, the robeast turns all of its attention on to the Castle and damages the particle barrier gravely. “Never mind!” She says quickly. “We’re taking heavy fire!”

“Princess, pull back!” Shiro commands. “Get out of its range.”

“We will _not_ abandon you,” Allura refuses.

“You’re not abandoning us. We were about to pull back, anyways,” Shiro reasons.

Hunk frowns. “We are?”

“We can’t hold out,” Shiro sighs. “We have to. Lions, to the mine shafts; it’s the only place the monster can’t get us.”

“Roger that,” Pidge says, flying down into the mines.

“Heading into orbit,” Allura announces as the Castle flies into the safety of the clouds. Quietly, Lance sighs in relief as he flies Blue into the mines with Pidge. As soon as he exits his lion, the Balmera moans and shakes under his feet. Pidge exits her lion and runs to him.

“Did you guys feel that over there?” Hunk asks over the comms.

“Yeah, we feel it,” Lance responds, feeling something run down his face. He’s unable to tell whether it’s sweat or blood, and at this point, he doesn’t really care either way.

“It’s that sound again,” Pidge notes. “What _is_ that?!”

Hunk pauses, listening to something that the Balmerans are saying. “The Balmera is crumbling,” Hunk says quietly after a while. “Unless we get the Balmerans out of here _now,_ they’ll die.”

Lance tenses. There’s still a way to save the Balmera, but he’s not sure he’ll like the outcome.

“Allura, do you read me?” Shiro asks.

“Loud and clear,” Allura answers, and Shiro continues.

“The Balmera--”

Allura’s tone darkens. “We already know. Our scanners are showing the Balmera’s quintessence draining.”

Pidge activates her gauntlet’s scanner. “How is that possible?” She asks, staring at the map of the Balmera, which looks like it’s on the brink of being destroyed.

“The Balmera needs time to regenerate itself,” Coran replies softly. “Without that time, it has slowly withered away from what it once was into a dying home for these poor Balmerans.”

“There’s still a way,” Lance mumbles.

“What?” Pidge asks. “What did you say?”

“Pidge, get in your lion.”

“Lance, what are you--”

Lance stares at her, his lips pursed and his eyes tired. “Trust me. Get in your lion and don’t come out until I tell you to.”

“Lance--” Hunk says, but he mutes his comms as Pidge silently obeys him, climbing into Green without another word. Lance opens a private channel that only includes himself and the Castle.

“I’m going to perform the ceremony,” Lance says. “The one to restore the Balmera.”

“Lance!” Allura cries. “You can’t restore an entire planet!”

“Without it, these people will die, Allura.”

“And with it, you will die. Lance, you’ll _drain_ your quintessence,” Coran says. “You don’t even know how to do it!”

“I’m not letting these people die because of my own cowardice,” Lance growls, stepping forward into one of the many tunnels. “So unless you’d like to help, I suggest you help Shiro come up with a plan to defeat that monster on the surface.”

Lance switches back to the open comm line and unmutes it. “Allura’s coming down to the surface with the Castle to load up the Balmerans. I need you guys to provoke and evade the robeast. You don’t have to beat it, but distract it so that it doesn’t focus on the Balmerans.”

“What about you?” Keith asks. “We need everyone in on this. What are you supposed to be doing?”

“Lance will help me transport the Balmerans,” Allura interrupts. “I’m going to be performing a ritual on the Balmera to help preserve it until we can depart from the planet. I need to draw on someone’s quintessence, and from what I can gather, Lance has the highest concentration of quintessence,” She lies, knowing fully well that none of the others know what she’s talking about. “Lance, I need you on the surface. We’re landing.”

“Allura,” Pidge begins. “Isn’t that dangerous? Like, won’t you hurt him?”

“I’ll be fine,” Lance says, a small part of himself feeling guilty that none of the team knows he’ll be far from fine.

“Even so,” Pidge continues, “if that thing spots Allura’s pod, it’ll blow her to pieces!”

“Let me worry about that,” Allura says. “Paladins, distract the robeast. Lance, with me.”

Lance hurries towards Blue and enters her cockpit as quickly as he can. He flies Blue out of the mineshaft, following Pidge, who has already begun to attack the robeast.

The other four lions guide the monster away from Lance, who has landed on a clear patch of the Balmeran surface. 

“Princess,” Shiro says, “We’ve lured the monster away. It’s safe to land now.”

“Perfect,” Allura says quickly, most likely prepping her pod. “I’ll contact you when I reach the surface.”

A small white object hurtles towards the surface. “Lance, follow me,” Allura says over the comms, and Lance jerks Blue upwards, ready to fly wherever Allura goes. Allura falls into a mineshaft, and Lance slowly follows her, making sure to give space between her pod and Blue before exiting his Lion.

“I’m on the ground,” Allura tells Shiro, walking towards a group of Balmerans in the tunnels. Lance recognizes them as Shay and her family. “Shay,” Allura says when she reaches the Balmerans, “I’m going to need your help. Have you contacted the other Balmerans?”

Lance notes the look of regret on Shay’s face when he reaches her group.

“What is it?” He asks. “What’s wrong?”

Shay bows her head. “All Balmerans give thanks for the kindness you and the paladins have bestowed upon us… Alas, we cannot take leave of our home.”

“What?” Allura asks softly.

“If our great Balmera’s life cycle is over because of us, then our wish is to stay with it until the end."

“But you’ll never survive!” Lance tries to reason.

“We contacted the others, and they all agree,” Shay’s brother, Rax, informs him. “It’s not right that you risk your lives for us. Please, leave. We ask for no more shame and guilt upon us.”

“It is our wish,” Shay adds. “The wish of all Balmerans.”

“No,” Allura shakes her head, her eyes narrowing in determination. “We’re not giving up on you. I won’t give up on any of you, no matter the circumstances.”

“But we do not ask this of you!” Shay argues. “Please!”

“I have heard your words,” Allura says. “Now, let me speak mine. I want to talk to the Balmerans. Can you give them a message for me?”

“There is no need,” Shay’s grandmother says softly, pointing at Lance, who startles. “He will.”

“What?” Lance furrows his eyebrows.

“Your hand, Lance,” Allura says softly, her eyes fixated on Lance’s hand, which leans against the cave walls for support. The wall around it glows blue.

“The Balmera will carry his words.”

Lance jumps, recoiling and ripping his hand from the surface. 

“I thought only _I_ would gain magical abilities from Mother,” Allura says softly. “It seems as if I was wrong.”

“Mom…?” Lance echoes softly. “Did she--”

Allura nods. 

Shay’s grandmother approaches him and grabs his wrist gently, guiding it towards the cave’s wall, which begins to glow blue again as soon as he makes contact with it.

“Allura, what’s happening to Lance?” Pidge asks. “What’s this about _magic?!”_

“Allura, sever my connection to the comms,” Lance instructs, a thousand thoughts racing through his brain, faster than a freight train.

“Lance?!” Hunk asks.

Allura does as told, and Lance closes his eyes, pressing his hand to the wall even more firmly. 

“Speak your heart, child,” The old woman says. “All will hear your message.”

Lance sighs. “Balmerans, this is Prince Lance of Altea, also known as the Blue Paladin of Voltron. You don’t know me, nor do I know you, but I want to help you. My world was destroyed when I was a child. I lost everything, and all I have left of my family right now is my sister. My people are gone. Recently, I dedicated myself to making sure that no other innocent world would fall to Zarkon, and I stand by that promise. Please, join me in my promise, and dedicate yourself to helping me fulfill my wish. I’m sorry for what’s happened to the Balmera, but _please,_ don’t let its dying be in vain. Honor its death by refusing to give up. Join us in our fight against the Galra.” Lance uses his free hand to wipe his eyes. “Please, help us make sure no one else has to see through the same thing that happened to this planet.”

The elderly woman holds a hand up to the cave and causes it to glow. She smiles warmly at Lance. “...Your words have touched our hearts.”

Lance smiles at her, and a tear runs down his cheek. “Thank you.”

“No, thank _you,”_ She replies fondly. “You’ve given us reason to hope again.”

“Everyone,” Lance says, focusing on the Balmerans again, “head to the caves just under the surface. We’ll extract you and take you somewhere safe.”

Allura hurries towards the mouth of the cave. “Coran, we’re just beneath the surface,” She says as Lance finally catches up with her, Shay’s family right behind him. “Triangulate my position to find your landing zone.”

Lance turns his comms back on as the Castle of Lions lands next to the mineshaft.

“Guys, how are we looking?” Lance asks. 

“We’ve got him distracted!” Keith answers. “Are the Balmerans in position?”

“They’re making their way to the surface,” Allura responds. “I’ll have to perform the ritual shortly if we wish the extract all of the planet’s inhabitants.”

Lance follows Allura up to the surface and begins helping Balmerans onto the ground. “Bring them out!” Coran says, exiting a large transportation pod. “Hurry!”

Just as Lance helps a Balmeran child climb up the ladder leading to the surface, the Balmera shakes, causing the ladder to fall to the bottom of the pit. The ground splits apart.

“No!” Lance shouts, setting the child on the ground and falling to his knees, gazing into the pit as families are separated.

“It’s on the verge of collapsing!” Coran pants, running towards Allura. “We have to go!”

“The Balmerans are trapped!” Lance argues.

“We’re lost!” Shay says, burying her head in her hands. “All are trapped with no chance of escape!”

Anger flows through Lance. “We’re not going to let that happen,” He says as Allura comforts Shay.

“But what can be done?” Rax asks.

“Allura,” Lance says. “We have to do it _now.”_

“What?” Rax questions. “What are you doing?”

“In the days of old, when Alteans retrieved crystals from the Balmera, they performed a ceremony to rejuvenate the planet,” Coran explains. “A sacred Altean would perform the ritual.”

“The Galra have only been taking,” Allura says solemnly. “It’s time we give back.”

She strides away from the edge of the mineshaft and lowers herself to the ground. 

“Princess, I beg of you, this may take more energy than you possess,” Coran pleads. “When your father performed this ceremony, it was on a much smaller scale. I fear you may not survive.”

“I’m going to help her,” Lance says, removing his gloves. “We discovered that I carry Mom’s gene for--” He cuts himself off. “Wait, are my comms still on?!”

“Lance!” Allura scolds as Lance fumbles with his helmet.

“Dude, what are you hiding from us--” Hunk begins, but Lance turns off his comms before he can finish. 

“Lance and I both carry on our mother’s gene for magical abilities. He, too, is a sacred Altean.”

“Will I be able to perform the ceremony in my human form?” Lance wonders aloud. 

“Shapeshifting does not halt our abilities,” Allura explains. “You are more than capable of performing the ritual, so let’s begin.”

Lance lowers himself to the ground and places his hands on the Balmera’s cool, dry surface. He thinks of his energy and tries to force it through his fingertips and into the Balmera. 

“Lance!” Allura startles. “How did you…?”

“Focus on directing your quintessence through your fingertips,” Lance grunts, exhaustion running through his veins. He refuses to stop.

“Lance, slow down! You’ll run your quintessence reserves dry!” Coran warns.

“Good,” Lance says. “That means it’s working.” He heaves, glaring down at the glowing blue surface of the Balmera.

Lance can feel the Balmera’s hunger beneath his skin. It craves quintessence. It’s ripping apart at the seams, and quintessence is the only thing that can stitch it together again. It _needs_ quintessence.

Lance thinks of the thousands of Balmerans in the mines who will die if he doesn’t survive. The fate of thousands of innocent lives ride on whether or not he and Allura can complete this task.

 _The Balmera has to live,_ he tells himself sternly. _You can’t give up._

Lance’s energy leaves him at an even faster rate, and he begins to hyperventilate as a cold feeling creeps through his bones. It’s not pleasant, nor is it painful, but it gives him an unsettling feeling of discomfort that pools in his stomach.

“Lance! You’re burning up!”

Lance ignores the warning as he realizes that the presence of Allura’s quintessence has disappeared completely. She’s abandoned him; she’s a coward. She cares nothing for the Balmerans that depend on him.

Sweat soaks through Lance’s underclothes, and he nearly screams as the icy feeling in his muscles turns to fire. The ground beneath him glows golden. Someone is shaking him. Someone is shouting. Allura’s comms sound frantic next to him.

“Is that glowing thing _Lance?!”_

“What’s he doing?! Lance?!”

“Lance!” Someone shouts directly in his ear. “Stop! The Balmera has been restored!”

There’s a rumbling noise. Lance collapses, vaguely aware that his skin has taken on a tone that’s scarily close to gray. His hands are smoking. 

“Lance?” Someone says gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. He flinches, his muscles screaming. “You did it.”

“‘Llura,” He stutters, his breathing heavy and slow. “I did it?”

“Yes,” Allura says fondly. “You restored the Balmera without my help. You even…”

“What?” Lance asks sluggishly.

“You didn’t even use normal quintessence. You used _pure_ quintessence. That’s why the Balmera healed so quickly.”

“Allura!” Shiro’s voice sounds over the comms. “We need Lance! We have to form Voltron!”

“Lance’s quintessence is nearly drained. He can’t pilot his lion!” Allura says.

Lance can’t see much because of the dust clouding his vision, but he can see the lions circling the Castle, frantically firing at the robeast, which approaches the Castle. 

Suddenly, the robeast pauses, lets out a terrible shriek, and collapses, its green eyes losing their glow.

The Lions land, and everyone exits them as fast as they can, running towards Lance, who has been moved and now lies with his head in Allura’s lap.

“Lance, are you okay?!” Pidge asks worriedly, dropping to the ground beside him and removing his helmet. “You look… Gray.” She turns to Allura. “What did you do to him?”

“He drained his quintessence for the Balmera. I fear he has no more left to give.

“Just a little bit,” Lance coughs. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to give any more of it away for a long time. What I have right now is barely sustaining me.”

He turns to Allura. “Will the Balmera be okay?”

“Yes,” She answers, grinning widely. “The Balmerans can stay on their planet,” She says happily.

Suddenly, the ground rumbles, and something rises above the castle, towering over it and casting a shadow over everything Lance can see. 

The robeast.

It wails impatiently and lumbers towards the Castle, and suddenly, Lance has an idea.

“Allura,” He says quietly. “Allura, get me back on the ground.”

“What are you--” Realization dawns upon her face. “No. You’ll die.”

“I have to _try.”_

Allura’s grip tightens around Lance, but he fights back, and eventually, he tumbles to the ground just as the robeast reaches the Castle. He inhales and slams his hand onto the ground, and instantly, the dusty surface glows golden. His teammates gasp, and Lance shakes wildly as he pushes the last of his quintessence into the Balmera.

“It’s not enough,” He croaks. His brain feels dizzy, as if it’s wrapped in plastic film. “Allura, it’s not enough!”

Something growls. Blue’s eyes light up behind him, and though he can’t see her, he knows that she’s alive and awake.

Something fills his quintessence reserves. Something new, something even more powerful than the pure quintessence that radiates out of him.

Blue has given him some of her own quintessence.

Allura gasps. “His lion is transferring him more quintessence!”

Lance takes a deep breath and pushes his hand further into the ground. “Please,” He gasps. “Please, I’m giving you this quintessence! _Please!”_

The Balmera moans, and Lance’s quintessence is forced back into him by the Balmera. The robeast charges its lasers, but as Lance heaves, his gray skin paling even further, the monster stops in its tracks and stares down at its feet as the Balmera’s bright blue crystals swallow it whole. 

Lance collapses onto the ground, smoke curling up from the ground. Blue roars worriedly behind him. “Allura,” he croaks, his consciousness beginning to fade. “The healing pods won’t help. I used too much quintessence for them to restore anything.”

Lance’s muscles scream for relief, and he longs to fall asleep and never wake up.

“You’re burning up!” Allura cries. “Your quintessence reserves aren’t meant to drain that quickly, especially not during the first time you drain them! You fool!”

Lance realizes that the smoke isn’t coming from the Balmera, but _himself_ instead. He laughs weakly. “It was worth it. Everyone is safe.”

“Lance, I don’t know if I can fix this!” Allura says, tears running down her face.

“Tell him that I’m sorry,” Lance says, thinking of Alfor. “Tell him that I wish I could’ve been here longer. If you defeat Zarkon, have Hunk take you to my home on Earth. Tell my mother who I really am.”

“Lance,” Allura says quietly. “Lance, you _can’t_ leave!”

“There were three Alteans,” Lance responds weakly. He lifts his head and stares at Allura, a faltering, bloody smile on his face.

He falls back, his head hitting the ground and closing his eyes as an open invitation for unconsciousness.

“And then there were two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so incredibly sorry for the long wait you guys had to go through to get this chapter! My computer broke, and after getting a replacement, _that_ computer broke. I've been unable to update until just recently, and because of the wait, I tried to make this chapter one of the longer ones.
> 
> In other exciting news, I've posted a Lance standalone! There's some Klance, but not a lot, as it mainly focuses on Lance's inner struggle with his homesickness and insecurities. You can find it on my profile--it's called _Dreams._
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> PS: Crystal Venom is soon. >:)


	14. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance searches for answers and finds much more than he bargained for.

Someone is shouting at Lance, but he can hardly hear the words they’re saying.

“Lance!” A rough, angry voice says. “You’re not allowed to do this! You can’t leave us! We _need_ you!”

A younger, more feminine voice joins the shouting, just as loud and angry. “Lance! Come on, I can’t lose you, too!”

A calm, strong voice says something, but Lance can’t quite make it out over the shouting. Something, perhaps, about how Lance can do whatever he’s supposed to be doing. Lance makes sure to thank Shiro for his words of encouragement in the future.

“Lance,” A sad voice says. It’s barely distinguishable over Pidge and Keith, but Lance can’t help but recognize it as Hunk. “C’mon, buddy, you can make it through this. If you want to make it back to Earth and see your family, you have to wake up. Allura can’t help you unless you do.”

Lance groans helplessly, unable to open his eyes.

“He’s here!” Pidge shouts at Allura. “Come do your magic thing!”

“I’m coming!” Says Allura distantly, her footsteps getting closer and closer. Lance still can’t open his eyes, but he can make groaning noises, which he guesses is better than nothing.

Something makes a thudding noise beside him, accompanied by heavy breathing. Something cold presses onto Lance’s chest, and he soon realizes that it’s a hand.

“Lance, I need you to work with me,” Allura says softly, and Lance can feel something warm surrounding him. “I need you to draw upon the Blue Lion’s quintessence, for I don’t have much to give without burning myself up like you did.”

Lance hums. He focuses on hailing Blue, who rests in the back of his mind. As soon as he calls on her, she feeds a thousand thoughts into his head.

 _Quintessence,_ Lance tells her. _I need some of your quintessence._

 _Quintessence?!_ Blue seems to say. _Of course! Anything for my paladin!_

Lance’s chest feels like exploding. Instantly, Blue transfers as much quintessence as she can to Lance, and his eyes fly open. 

He gasps in a breath, shooting up from the ground and accidentally pushing Allura’s hands off his chest. Lance pants, grinning at Allura. “Woah.”

Pidge tackles Lance and latches onto him like a koala bear. “What the hell were you thinking?!” She croaks. “You could’ve killed yourself!”

“I had to make sure you guys were safe,” Lance says. “It was the only way.”

Pidge’s voice cracks. “You _died,_ Lance. Allura was barely able to bring you back enough to get more quintessence. You had no pulse for three minutes. You were _dead.”_

Lance purses his lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Next time, don’t pull a stupid stunt just to impress people,” Keith grumbles. “Seriously, you _died_ trying to impress us.”

Lance stares at him, and Keith merely raises an eyebrow when he notices Lance and the rest of the team staring at him.

“Next time you make an assumption, _Keith,”_ Lance spits, “think before you speak. I died trying to ensure that these Balmerans and all of you were safe. Not for attention, or for any other reason you can think of.”

Pidge tenses when Lance admits that he died. Lance puts a hand on the back of her head to comfort her, just like his mother used to when he was small. 

Lance refuses to look at Keith, but in his peripheral vision, he can clearly see a remorseful look on Keith’s face. Allura clears her throat. “You don’t have any external injuries, which is good, but I fear you’ll have to rest for a long period before you begin to feel normal. This goes for myself as well.”

Lance nods. “How long d’you think it’ll take?”

“A day at most. You’ll still feel tired, but you’ll have enough energy to function until your quintessence reserves are restored.”

“Lance, you should go back to the Castle and get some rest,” Shiro says. “You, too, Allura. You two look exhausted.”

“You’re right. Lance, could you escort me in your Lion? Are you well enough to fly?” Allura asks.

“Yeah, Allura, I’m fine,” Lance says, shakily standing. Pidge elbows him, and he swats at her shoulder playfully. He staggers towards Blue, his legs refusing to work properly. Allura follows closely behind. 

“Okay, beautiful, open up,” Lance mutters to Blue, who nudges him mentally and leans forward, opening her maw and allowing Lance and Allura to step inside. He leads her into the cockpit and collapses into the seat. 

As soon as Blue takes flight, Allura begins to reprimand him. “Are you insane?!” She fumes. “You died, Lance! I could’ve lost you! I almost was unable to save you!”

“I’m sorry, ‘Llura,” Lance says, biting the inside of his cheek. “I don’t regret it, but I’m sorry for scaring you. I’ll try not to do anything like it again if I can avoid it.”

“Thank you,” Allura says softly. She puts a hand on his shoulder as he lands Blue in her hangar. “And thank you for putting the lives of your teammates and the Balmerans before your own. You truly take after our parents, even if you never were able to meet them.” Before Lance has a chance to answer, she pulls him up by the arm. “Come with me; you need to rest.”

Without another word, Allura drags Lance out of Blue’s maw and forces him into bed. After tucking him in so that he literally _cannot_ free himself from the wrath of Altean blankets, she stands in the doorway. “Get some rest--I believe we’ll be able to transfer Sendak’s mind to a memory core tomorrow. You’ll want to be there.”

Lance nods.

“Oh, Lance?”

Lance hums in response, his eyes already beginning to feel weighed down.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again. I can’t bear to lose you again.”

And with that, she steps out of the doorway, leaving Lance’s door to shut. Darkness creeps over the room, and suddenly, sleeping feels like the best thing Lance can fathom.

He closes his eyes drowsily and begins to dream of soft, pale sand and the roaring tide that belongs to a place he once called home.

-

When Lance wakes, he discovers that he’s somehow kicked all of his blankets off while he slept and has effectively freed himself. He glances at his nightstand, which displays a clock, and notices the time. It’s around nine in the afternoon, and Lance groggily stretches. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and stands, turning on the lights and dressing himself. Afterwards, he exits his room and goes to find Allura, who is lounging in the control room. 

“There you are,” He says, effectively startling her. 

“What are you doing up?” Allura asks. “I didn’t expect you to be awake for a few vargas.”

Lance shrugs. “I feel rested enough.”

“In that case, let’s go see how Sendak’s memory transfer is coming along,” Allura says, grabbing his wrist and leading him into the hallway. She pauses to remember which room she needs to enter, then leads Lance into the detainment room.

“Lance, Allura!” Coran chimes, stepping away from the pod that holds Sendak’s body. Lance glares at the Galran, knowing full well that Sendak is unconscious. “Good to see you two up and running.”

“We wanted to see how things are going,” Lance supplies, earning a nod of understanding from Pidge. 

“Lance, this technology is super fascinating!” Hunk says, grappling onto Lance’s arm and refusing to let go. “It extracts--”

“Yeah, big guy, I know,” Lance grins. “It’s awesome, right?”

Hunk pauses. “What do you mean, you know?” He asks. Lance tenses visibly, and luckily, Allura saves him.

“Lance once caught me talking to my father’s memory core. He was interested in the process, so I explained it to him. He chats with my father occasionally, too.”

“Oh, is _that_ why you’ve gone back to your room to go to bed super late these past few nights?” Hunk asks. “I keep hearing your door close at, like, three in the morning.”

Lance pales. That’s _exactly_ why he’s been out of bed late at night; when else will he get the chance to talk to his father? “Yeah,” Lance says. “Allura’s dad is super great.”

He tries to ignore the way Allura is staring at him. “So,” Lance begins, “how’s the whole transfer thing coming along?”

“It’s not,” Pidge says, deflating. “It’s taking forever. Keith already left to go train. We’ve been waiting here for almost two hours.”

“Speaking of which,” Hunk says, patting his stomach, “I’ve gotta go feed the beast. Pidge, you up for some lunch?”

“Sure,” Pidge shrugs. “Lance?” She offers.

Lance shakes his head. “No, thanks,” He declines. “I’ve gotta go talk to Blue. Something weird happened yesterday, and I need to see what’s up.”

Lance turns and exits, Pidge and Hunk trailing behind him. He takes a right, leaving him alone as he walks through the halls. Once he steps inside Blue’s hangar, he smiles at her. 

“Hey, gorgeous,” He grins up at her, feeling her eyes on him.

The lights flicker. 

“So, care to tell me why I felt your pain yesterday?”

Blue doesn’t answer, so Lance strides forward, taking a seat on one of her enormous paws. “Come on,” He complains. “Are you ignoring me? I’m sorry for pulling that stunt yesterday.”

Something nudges Lance mentally. He grins at Blue. “Please?!”

Lance can hear his lion laughing at him. “Will you please show me something? Anything? Honestly, I really don’t care. It feels like you’re mad at me, and I don’t like it.”

Instantly, a wave of Blue’s regret washes over him. She apologizes profusely for making him feel like she’s been mad at him.

“Hey, calm down,” Lance says. “Seriously, though, can I have some answers?”

Blue refuses, provoking a frustrated groan from Lance.

Suddenly, the lights begin to flicker rapidly. One by one, the bright white lights that line the wall begin to dim, changing from blue and white to an eerie black and purple. 

“Blue?” Lance asks softly. She’s just as confused as him.

The purple light creeps toward him, surrounding him, and Lance touches the floor. He glances at Blue before noticing that her presence has exited his mind completely. “Blue?!” He repeats, more powerful and much more fearfully this time. 

Blue’s yellow eyes flicker, and suddenly, they turn purple.

“Blue!”

Lance draws in a breath as Blue begins to growl softly, and as soon as he exhales, he is pushed off Blue’s paw and hits the floor on all fours. The purple consumes him, and his vision blurs before changing into something that Lance had believed he’d never see.

-

“Okay,” Pidge pants, nursing the small cut on her hand given to her by the haywire Gladiator. She turns to face Keith and Hunk. “The Castle is going crazy. We need to find Coran and tell him.”

The three of them nod in agreement and bolt down the hallway, eventually finding Coran cleaning the healing pods. “Coran!” Hunk says. “The Castle tried to kill Keith! And it made Pidge and I float around in zero gravity!”

Coran furrows his eyebrows. “What?”

“The Gladiator went haywire,” Pidge explains, panting for breath. “I think it may have something to do with Sendak’s crystal.”

Coran nods. “Yes, perhaps the infection from Sendak’s crystal may be worse than we thought.”

“Well, let’s get rid of it,” Hunk says rationally.

“It’s too late,” Coran frowns. “When Sendak plugged it into the ship, it corrupted the entire system.”

“Sendak?” Keith echoes. “Wait, has anyone seen Shiro?”

“As far as I know, he’s still with Sendak,” Coran says. “Why?”

Pidge’s eyes widen. “Keith and Coran, get Shiro. Hunk and I need to find Lance.”

Hunk freezes. “You don’t think his Lion could’ve been…”

“That’s exactly what I think,” Pidge says, grabbing Hunk’s hand. “Which is why we need to hurry. Come on!” She says, dragging him into the hallway and towards the Blue Lion’s hangar.

When the doors slide open, Pidge run towards Lance, ignoring the strange purple lighting. He’s hunched over on all fours, staring at the floor and shaking.

“Lance?!” Pidge says, shaking him. She lifts his head and sees that his blue eyes are a dull, milky white. _“Lance!”_

-

Everything is white, save for the blue sky through the window and the purple arm that’s shaking Lance’s shoulder gently. When Lance rises, he realizes that he has no control over his body--he’s powerless. 

“Get up, lazy,” A smooth voice says. “You need to make sure Teyra is disciplining the soldiers correctly. Allura sent me to wake you.”

Lance groans involuntarily. He tries to speak, but different words come out of his mouth. “I hate everything,” He complains. “I hate work, and I hate _you.”_

“No,” The person says, and after wiping the sleep from his eyes, Lance sees their face correctly. “You, Prince Lance--no, _General_ Lance--adore me.”

“Lotor, if I could execute you, you would be in a ditch with two wilted juniberries covering your face,” Lance grins, forcing himself out of bed. 

Lance now knows three important things: one, whoever this person is, his name is Lotor. Two, he’s supposedly a _general._ Three, this Lotor guy knows about his princedom. 

“Go get ready. Teyra is waiting, and we have lunch with your parents, Allura, and Ambassador Rhodenus after you complete your rounds. Since I’m bored, I’ll be accompanying you,” Lotor says, fixing Lance with a pointed look.

Lance stands and grabs the clothes that Lotor is holding out for him. He steps into a room--a bathroom--and looks at himself in the mirror, tracing his finger along his eye bags.

If Lance could freeze, he would. He has his Altean features--his white hair, his markings, and his elongated ears. But unfortunately, Lance involuntarily turns, stripping off his shirt and pants and carefully pulling on his Altean robes. He buttons his collar and exits the bathroom. 

“Perfect,” Lotor teases. “You look like Allura.”

Lance mumbles something that he assumes is a curse directed towards Lotor. “Come on, let’s go.”

He exits his bedroom and begins to stride down the halls, Lotor following behind him and struggling to keep up. “Teyra will be in the courtyard, correct?” Lance inquires.

“Yes, but--”

“Then hurry up! It closes to the public in half a varga.”

“Lance, you’re a _prince._ I’m sure you’re exempt from--”

“Teyra, however high she may be ranked, is not Altean royalty, and is therefore considered a citizen. She’ll be forced out if we don’t make it in time, and that’ll really put a damper on all of our moods.”

Lance doesn’t give Lotor a chance to speak and makes his way down an unfamiliar hall. He takes a sharp left and enters a gorgeous courtyard, where a tall, pale woman sits. Her scarlet hair is pulled into a bun, and her orange markings flash when she sees Lance and Lotor. 

“Your Highness,” She says, smirking. 

“Teyra, if I have to tell you not to call me by my titles _one more time…”_ Lance threatens, but the gesture lacks malice and suggests that his relationship with Teyra is close. “You wanted to see me?”

“I’m back from Therza with an update on their war against the people of Pyre. The casualties on both sides have tripled, and the citizens are begging for help. The only reason the war began was because of the planets’ corrupt leaders; the civilians want no part in this, but they are forced to fight anyway.”

Lance sighs. “You can’t expect anyone to--”

“But I can,” Teyra glares at Lance. “People are dying, Sir. You are our general. You make the decision.”

“I do _not.”_ Lance fumes. “You of all people know that I would help every last person if I could. The decision is entirely up to my father--if he agrees, _then_ we’ll discuss strategy.”

Lotor clears his throat beside him, throwing his hair over his shoulder. “You should accompany us to our luncheon with Lance’s family and Ambassador Rhodenus. We can make our case for the people then.”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” Teyra sighs. “Duty calls. I have to help train the recruits you chose, Lance.”

“They’re the best of the best,” Lance chimes. “It won’t take much effort for them to perfect their technique.”

Lotor looks at a sundial that rests to his left, framed perfectly by hedges. “We should be going soon. Is that all?”

“Yes,” Teyra bows her head. “I’ll see you soon, Lance. Goodbye, Lotor.”

Lance nods, turning and following Lotor out of the courtyard.

“We’re late,” Is all Lotor says when he grabs Lance’s hand and pulls him through the halls quickly. Lance yelps and struggles to keep up with Lotor, who is now practically sprinting.

When Lotor comes to a stop at a large, pristine white door, he pushes it open and walks inside the room slowly. Lance follows and is greeted with the disapproving stares of his sister, mother, and father. 

“Lance!” A large, orange alien with bushy yellow eyebrows booms loudly. “Come, sit! We have much to discuss!”

“I apologize for my lateness, Sir,” Lance says to the Ambassador. “I had a meeting with Sergeant Teyra about the war on Therza.”

“Ah, yes,” Rhodenus says. “We were just discussing that. Your father insisted that we wait for you before making any decisions.”

“Personally,” Lance begins as Allura passes him a plate of food. “I believe we should put a stop to the fighting on both sides. According to Teyra, the casualties on either side have been tripled, and neither party wants to continue fighting. Their corrupt leaders started the war, and they won’t end until the other party is dead.”

“Lance,” His mother reminds him, “it’s not polite to badmouth leaders during meals.”

“He speaks the truth, Arin,” Rhodenus says. “My people no longer wish to fight for a worthy cause.”

“A worthy…” Alfor trails off. “What do you mean?”

“If the people of my planet were loyal to myself and their leaders, they would stop at nothing to crush the people of Pyre.” The grin on Rhodenus’s face is sickening. “I do hope you mean you wish to aid the _leaders_ in keeping the fight alive.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Lance growls. “Rhodenus, are you not in support of ending the war?”

“The war will end when the Pyran Empire has been destroyed,” Rhodenus says. “And if you wish to keep your life, I suggest you support me.”

Rhodenus pulls a sword from his sheath. Lance stands and does the same.

“Lance!” His mother cries. “Stop this!”

Lance shakes his head. “Guards!” He shouts. Lotor grabs his sleeve. 

“Lance, don’t--”

“I don’t make peace with traitors,” Lance snarls, backing away from the table and into an open area.

“Lance, I order you to stop!” Alfor demands, but Lance shakes his head.

“I am the general of the Altean army and the youngest of the Royal Family. It is my duty to protect you.” Lance draws nearer to Rhodenus, who is holding his sword in a defensive position. “Strike, traitor.”

Rhodenus brings his sword forward for a clean cut at Lance’s throat, but Lance parries and knocks the sword from Rhodenus’s hands, sending it clattering across the clean white floors.

Lance holds his sword towards Rhodenus’s neck. “Do you surrender?”

Rhodenus grins at him, and suddenly, Lance’s sword is taken from him. Something aches in his chest. 

Lance looks down and sees his own sword protruding from his chest, stained with dark red blood.

“Lance!” Allura shouts, running to his side. “Guards, come quickly!” 

Three masked guards sprint inside the room and tackle Rhodenus. Lance stares at the ceiling as his mother, father, and sister crouch around him. Lotor kneels next to him.

“You fool,” Lotor whispers. “Lance, you knew better than to take him on.”

Lance ignores him and wraps his hands around the hilt of his sword. He cries out in pain as he pulls it from his chest. “Rhodenus, are you going to want this back?!”

Lotor slaps him. “You’re going to survive this,” He says. “The medic will be here shortly. Just hang on.”

“You overestimate how much I really care about my job,” Lance says, a bloody smile on his lips. “You of all people know I’d be content with death if it means I finally got a good night’s rest.”

Lance fights for control of his own body. He knows how slim the chances are that this version of him will survive, but at least this version of himself has his parents. 

Lance takes a deep breath and speaks the words he’s been dying to say all day. “Mom, Dad,” He says, his accent fading. “I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t spend more time with you.” Tears run down his face, splashing onto the floor gently and mixing in with the blood that pools beneath him. “Allura, I love you. You’re going to do wonderful things in life, I know it.”

Lance looks up at Lotor, who’s crying helplessly. “Lotor,” He croaks. “You’re my best friend. I consider you to be a brother. Please, take care of my family. Don’t let anything happen to them.”

Lotor nods, his hand trembling as he wipes his eyes.

Lance closes his eyes. “Now, then,” He smiles, his accent disappearing completely. “I have another family to get back to.”

And with that, the cries of his family turns into the beating of a drum, which soon stills into nothingness as death consumes the young prince.

-

“Traitor!” Lance shouts when he wakes, panting hard as he struggles to keep himself up on all fours. He glances around wildly, seeing Pidge and Hunk staring at him in shock. 

“Lance?”

Lance tries to steady his breathing. “What’s going on?”

“Sendak’s crystal has infected everything in the Castle. Everything here is going beserk.”

Lance pales. Could the crystal affect his father’s AI?

Lance stands shakily. “Shit,” He murmurs. “You said everything in the Castle is affected?”

Pidge nods. 

Lance takes a deep breath and sprints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAH! CRYSTAL VENOM IS NEXT! I'm upping the angst by about thirty percent next chapter, so sorry in advance. 
> 
> I'm also very pleased to find that some of you have already started to figure out how Lance will reveal his identity. Nobody's guessed it yet, but some of you guys are on the right track. To quote Coran, "Look at your primitive synapses, firing away in their little brain cage!" :')
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	15. Parting Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance says goodbyes and is revisited by a memory that he'd rather die than relive.

When Lance reaches the control room, Pidge and Hunk are far behind him, so he believes he’ll have enough time to talk to his family. “Allura!” He shouts. “Allura, snap out of it!”

“We’re going home, Lance,” Allura says breathily, her voice sounding robotic. “We’re going to Altea.”

“Altea…?” Lance asks softly. He runs towards Allura and is stopped by a particle barrier that gently nudges him backward.

“Lance, come with us.” Suddenly, Alfor’s hologram appears in front of him. “You can meet your mother. You can see me.”

“I’ve met my mother, and I’ve met you, too. You are _not_ Alfor, and Altea is gone. King Alfor and Queen Arin are dead,” Lance growls.

Suddenly, the door behind Lance slides open, and the rest of his team rushes inside.

“Allura, what’s going on?!” Shiro asks. He sounds panicked.

“My father is taking us home!” Allura drones. “We’re going to Altea!”

Keith, who is behind Lance, rushes forward and attempts to reach Allura, but the invisible particle barrier appears again and knocks him back. “Stay away from my daughter!” Alfor rages.

“Allura, wake up!” Lance begs. “Come on, that’s not Altea!”

“The crystal must have corrupted Alfor’s artificial intelligence unit. It’s taking over!” Coran explains hurriedly. 

Allura pushes the Castle forward into a wormhole, and suddenly, the empty blackness of space morphs into the bright orange flames of a dying star.

“Oh, no,” Pidge murmurs. “Guys, we’re headed straight for a star, and it’s about to explode!”

“Father,” Allura says to Alfor, who stands proudly beside her. “I can see Altea!”

“Allura! Wake up!” Coran says, leaning against the particle barrier. “What you’re seeing isn’t real!”

The scene around Allura shifts. The Altean floor turns into something all-too-familiar for Lance: a field of juniberries. Allura bends down and picks one, gazing at it lovingly. “The juniberry,” She says quietly. “The most exquisite flower of all.”

Lance pounds on the particle barrier. “Not that,” He mutters in horror. “Anything but that! Alfor! Stop it!”

When Alfor turns and smiles at him, Lance continues, “Allura, wake up! What you’re seeing isn’t real!”

Allura stares at Lance in consternation. “Is this real?” She wonders aloud.

“Of course it’s real, daughter,” Alfor says lowly. “The flower you’re touching is real, is it not?”

Allura nods and stares at the flower in her hands, her smile returning.

“But where is the fragrance?!” Lance shouts desperately. “Why can’t you smell the juniberries?”

Allura raises the flower to her nose to smell it, but when she inhales, she freezes. “What?” She asks.

The juniberries disappear. Instead, the star returns. Allura gasps. “That’s not Altea,” She says shakily.

“When that star goes supernova, it’ll destroy the entire system. Allura, you _have_ to reset the course and get us out of here!” Pidge fiddles with her sleeve nervously. 

Allura nods and starts towards the control panel, but is thrown backward by Alfor. She shouts, and Lance, who was expecting Alfor to disregard his sister, catches her. He helps her to her feet and squeezes her shoulder reassuringly.

“Father, please, I _beg_ you to turn this ship around. If you don’t, we’ll all perish!”

“That is my intention, young one,” Alfor says. “For wouldn’t it be better to give up a battle that you know you won’t win?” He stares at Lance, his eyes practically boring into Lance. “Wouldn’t it be better to be an infant than an adult in the middle of a war?”

Lance flinches. “Stop it,” He tests. “Alfor, I know you’re in there. Fight it.”

“Soon enough, Lance, you’ll agree with me. You’ll see that there’s no point in fighting this battle.”

Alfor shifts, his dark skin lightening ever-so-slightly. His hair turns brown, and his facial hair disappears. He now wears a flannel and dirty jeans. “After all, it should’ve been you, _Lance.”_

Lance falls to his knees. Allura tries to help him up, but he refuses, staying glued to the ground. “You’re not him,” He says, his voice shaky. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Rosel asks. Lance shakes his head. This is _not_ Rosel. “Aleja was foolish to die for you.”

“Stop it,” Lance demands forcefully. Rosel shifts again; he shrinks in size and becomes plump, his hair curling and his babyish face gaining tired wrinkles.

“My daughter died for someone who wasn’t even my child,” Lance’s mother says. He chokes back a sob. “Someone who was pitiful enough to leave without saying goodbye. Who found a new family. You are not my boy,” She spits. “And you never were.”

“Oh, god, Hunk, is that Lance’s mom?” Pidge asks behind him. In the reflection of the particle barrier, Hunk nods, his hand covering his mouth. “What’s she saying? You can speak Spanish, right?”

 

“Not enough,” Hunk whispers. “I can only understand bits and pieces, but it’s bad.”

“Lance,” Allura says. “What is she saying? My translator isn’t working.”

Lance shakes his head, suddenly aware of the fact that he’s slipped into Spanish at some point. “Mama, no,” He begs, wiping his eyes. “It was my fault, but I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for her to die.”

“There’s nothing you can do to bring her back,” Rosa says, shifting. She grows, thinning down and growing more hair. Her face morphs into one that Lance hasn’t seen in person in years. _”There’s nothing you can do to bring me back.”_

“Lance!” Hunk sprints forward and grabs Lance, dragging his backward and ignoring his pleading for him to stop.

Aleja stares at Lance, her hollowed cheeks hiding beneath her pleased smile. Her tan skin has turned gray, and her eyes are sunken and practically dead. She’s speaking in English, something that Lance only recognizes because she calls him by his nickname.

“Maybe if you hadn’t been so reckless, I wouldn’t have died that day, _Lancey.”_

Lance fights against Hunk’s grip. “I have to-- _stop, Hunk!_ It was me! It was my fault!”

Lance can hear the screeching of metal that rings in his ears. He can see the blood that once pooled beneath him as Aleja died in the driver’s seat. 

“Hunk!” Lance begs. “Please!” Hunk is now covering his eyes, and no matter how hard Lance fights to remove Hunk’s hands, he won’t budge.

“Hush,” Hunk soothes. “It wasn’t your fault. She’s gone now.”

“Let me go!” Lance demands. Hunk finally complies, releasing Lance and removing his hands from his eyes. True to his word, Aleja is gone, replaced by a smirking Alfor.

“See how your weakest link crumbles?” He asks, turning to Shiro. “Soon, you will all crumble. I am only saving you from your inevitable fate.”

“Father, stop this!” Allura demands, but Alfor merely raises an eyebrow. 

“Daugher, don’t you understand? You can never defeat Zarkon! He’s been ruling for thousands of years!”

“But we must continue to fight!” Allura argues, her voice wobbly.

Alfor glares. “Fight for what? It is all over for Altea! The battle has been lost! Allura, you don’t have to live a life full of war. You can be with me and the rest of your people.”

“Father, please!” Allura begs. “The paladins and I can still stop Zarkon! Somewhere in there, you must want that to happen!”

Alfor glitches, and Lance winces, bracing for another attack on one of the paladins’ emotional baggage. Instead, his eyes soften, and the grave look on his face becomes even graver. “Allura, by AI has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source!” He glitches again, resuming his previous form. “--We can stroll across the Blossom Canyon every morning, just like we used to. Remember how much you loved that?” He asks softly.

Allura bows her head, her eyes glassy with tears. “I remember. I’ll see you soon, Father.” She whips around, her eyes hardening. “I’ve got to get to the AI chamber to disconnect my father’s power source manually.”

“But that means losing King Alfor forever!” Coran protests. Lance grimaces, bowing his head.

This is the only way.

Allura ignores him. “Paladins, get to your lions. I need you to slow the Castle’s descent into the star.”

“I can try to override the system to open the hangars,” Coran says, and Allura nods. She turns to Lance, uncaring of the others’ stares.

“I’m--” She whispers, her mouth set in a deep frown. 

Lance cuts her off before she can continue, holding up a hand and nodding. “It’s the only way,” He says quietly, his voice low. It’s barely above a whisper to avoid the rest of his team hearing him. “We’ll see him again one day. Tell him that I love him, and that I’m sorry.”   
Allura nods, puts a hand on Lance’s heart, and turns away, exiting the room as fast as she can to reach Alfor’s AI chamber in time.

Coran is successful in his attempt to open the Lions’ hangars. The paladins reach their lions quickly, and Lance enters Blue without hesitation. She pokes and prods in his mind, eventually letting out a troubled wail upon finding out what’s happening.

“There’s nothing to be done, Blue,” Lance says, steering her out of her hangar and into the vast, empty space. “This is the only way.”

Lance puts on his helmet and follows the rest of the lions to the front of the Castle, which hurtles towards the dying star. The lions attach themselves to the Castle and begin to push. Lance can feel the strain that Blue is undergoing; she may be the third fastest lion, but she’s definitely not the strongest, and putting forth this much effort definitely entitles her to a shower, courtesy of Lance. 

Something sounds on the comms that is an unpleasant change from the occasional grunt. “It is done,” Allura says, and Lance fights back newly-formed tears that have just begun to prick in his eyes. “Paladins, return to your hangars. We’re getting out of here.”

With great difficulty, Lance returns Blue to his hangar. His vision is blurry, making it hard to see, and he wipes his eyes profusely before meeting everyone back in the control room after the wormhole jump is completed.

When Lance enters the control room, Allura sits on a small platform, Shiro and Coran at her side. Everyone’s expressions are solemn. Shiro’s hand rests on Allura’s shoulder as he comforts her, his tone careful, as if he’s treading in unknown waters. “I’m sorry about your father, Princess.”

Lance tenses, clenching his fists to the point where his knuckles are white. And endless chorus of, _’that was never our father’_ repeats in his head like a broken record player. Allura seems to be thinking the same thing, because she shakes her head. “Thank you, but that was _not_ my father. The _real_ King Alfor was a great man, a great father, and a great paladin. He may not be here any longer, but his dream lives on through all of us, and his legacy…” Allura trails of, her voice cracking. “His legacy is Voltron.”

Lance nods, a frown etched onto his face. Allura stares at him, and he nods, opening his arms. She all-but-sprints into his arms, tears already traveling down her face. He returns the embrace warmly, doing his best to comfort Allura.

“I know. I know,” He says soothingly. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. It’s been an exhausting few days.”

Allura nods, and Lance leads her out of the room, completely aware of the four shocked gazes that rest on his retreating figure. “Who was that girl?” Allura asks, her voice hoarse. “The one that Hunk had to shield you from.”

Lance purses his lips as he exits the room and says in a voice that’s a little too loud, “Someone that deserved to live.”

-

After tucking Allura in and making sure she’s asleep, Lance retreats from her room and makes his way towards the training deck, where he believes he can blow off some steam. 

He decides not to use the gladiator, and instead uses an Altean-made dummy that seems to be akin to a punching bag that fights back. After two or three punches and blocks, he begins to get into the groove of things. 

 

“This is for King Alfor,” He says, deflecting a blow to his abdomen and hitting the bot in the throat. While it pauses to recuperate, Lance strikes its jaw. “For my father.”

“For Queen Arin,” He says, hitting the bot thrice more. “My mother.”

“For Allura,” He says, absorbing a blow and hitting the dummy in the nose. “My sister. For everything this godforsaken world has put her through.”

The bot backs off and lets Lance continue his assault. “For Rosel! For the _shit_ that life made him suffer when everyone compared him to Damian!”

“And for Damian; for the constant stress and the need he has to make himself better!”

“For Ana!” Lance shouts. “For the shit that she takes every day for being herself!”

“For Claudia!” Lance snarls, delivering three well-placed blows to the bot’s throat. “For the fact that her creativity is always fucking _restrained!”_

“For Mama and the stress she goes through. She thinks her son is _dead!_ For Papa, too! He knew this would happen!”

Lance isn’t aware that he’s crying until something that’s not sweat begins to pool in his eyes. He drops his tone to a hurt whisper. “For Aleja,” He says softly, putting all his energy into one last punch. “For the life that she could have lived if I hadn’t been so fucking reckless.”

Lance assaults the bot with an array of different punches, and eventually, when he believes that he’s finished, he steps back. 

A voice behind him speaks the words before he can inhale a breath to say them. “End training sequence.”

Lance spins around, his eyes wide as he’s met with the sight of a frowning Keith. “What are you doing here?” He asks. 

“I’m always here,” Keith reasons. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“How long were you here before you spoke?” Lance counters.

“I came in during the part about your mother,” Keith says, nodding solemnly. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

Lance tenses. “You’re curious, aren’t you?”

 

“Can I ask who she was? Is that too invasive?”

“Aleja was my older sister,” Lance says. “She loved her family more than anything, but she was really reserved and really hot-headed, so she tended not to show it unless we were arguing. She was driving me somewhere one night, and we were arguing about whether or not I was going to go to the Garrison. She thought it was too dangerous.”

Keith’s breathing becomes shallow, as if he already knows where this is going.

“A group of hutias scurried out in front of her car, and she couldn’t stop in time. She swerved to avoid hitting them and crashed her car. She died a few minutes after the crash from a head injury.”

Keith grimaces. “I’m… really sorry, Lance. Nobody deserves to have that happen to them.”

Lance nods. “Thanks, man.”

“And, uh… For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what I said on the Balmera,” Keith says.

Lance cocks his head.

“When I said you were being selfish. I was worried about you, and I was trying to make sure you wouldn’t do anything like that again. It didn’t work out well.”

“It’s okay,” Lance says, offering a smile. “Are we cool?”

“Sure,” Keith says, returning the smile. “If you can drop the whole ‘rivalry’ thing you have against me.”

“In your dreams,” Lance says, stepping towards the door. “Night, Mullet. I’m gonna turn in early.”

“G’night,” Keith offers as the door closes. Lance’s heart aches in his chest, and he only registers that it aches for _two_ people when he lies down to sleep.

Obviously, it aches and longs for his father; though Alfor’s AI wasn’t his real father, it was the closest thing Lance would ever have to hs real father. 

But it also aches for someone else, and it chills Lance to the bone to even think about it. To think that something that started off so small and innocent could become a problem in the near future terrifies him, especially when it could jeopardize his team’s bond. His heart aches for Alfor and the rest of his family, yes, but Lance’s heart longs for something closer than family. Some _one_ closer than family.

It longs for Keith, he realizes as he tosses and turns, tears leaking from his eyes.

It aches for Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't as emotional as its toll on Lance will be. I like to imagine that Lance is one to bottle up his feelings, and bottle up his feelings he shall... until it all comes out, one way or another. >:)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	16. Telling the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance hurts.

Lance wakes before anyone else in the Castle; he rises when the Castle is silent, when the only sound within range is his own breathing.

He takes a walk, his thoughts swimming. Lance unintentionally stumbles upon the Holodeck and finds the remains of his father’s memory core. It’s broken, and the glass around it is scattered around the room. As soon as the door closes behind him, he drops to his knees and stares at the remains of what used to be his only connection to his biological father.

“It’s just now sinking in,” Lance says to the broken memory core. “You’re really gone forever, aren’t you? I’ll never speak to you again.”

Lance bows his head, unable to look at the machine, letting tears fall freely as he shakes with his sobs.

Allura finds him like that half an hour later and comforts him, accidentally unleashing a new wave of Lance’s tears upon herself. “He’s gone,” Lance cries. “I should’ve visited him more. I never should have taken his presence for granted, Allura! He was all that I had left of our parents.”

Allura wraps her arms around him. “We’ll get through it together, Lance. And we’ll see him again one day.”

“You got to spend your life on Altea,” Lance whispers. “It’s not fair.”

“I know.”

“I’ve lived a sick lie my entire life.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. But we have to move on.”

Lance nods. “I think I want to tell the team that I’m Altean soon. I don’t want to keep hiding it.”

Allura smiles at him softly. “That’s great! I’m proud of you.”

“I’m scared, though,” Lance admits, wiping the tears from his eyes. He sniffs. “I don’t want to go back to Earth and find that my adoptive family doesn’t recognize me. And I’m scared of the pain that I’ll have to go through when I put on my crown.”

“They’ll recognize you, Lance,” Allura assures him, squeezing his arm. “From what you’ve described, they love you dearly. They’ll recognize you the second you touch down on Earth.”

“You think so?”

Allura smiles. “I know so.”

Lance nods, trying to convey his appreciation for her reassurance with a warm embrace. Allura happily returns it, and when Lance pulls away, his stomach growls. “I think the food goo is starting to grow on me.”

Allura laughs. “It will one day. Come on, let’s eat.”

Lance rises to his feet and goes to open the door, but Allura stops him. “By the way, if you’re uncomfortable with your family on Earth knowing your true identity, you can always revert to your human form.”

“I can _do_ that?” Lance asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course!” Allura chirps. “Alteans are a shapeshifting race. It’s part of why we were such great diplomats when our planet was still standing.”

To demonstrate, Allura closes her eyes and seemingly concentrates on something. In mere seconds, her markings disappear, and her ears shorten and round out. Her white hair turns brown. “See?” She asks. “I’ve taken human form.”

“That’s amazing!” Lance applauds, his eyes wide as Allura reverts back to her Altean form. She beams at him, then leads him into the dining hall, where everyone has congregated. While Lance fixes himself and Allura breakfast, Pidge explains the situation.

“I’m finally able to hack into Sendak’s memories,” Pidge says, typing on her computer. “I think we can find some valuable information here.”

“Really?” Allura asks, taking the plate that Lance hands her and poking at the food goo on it absentmindedly. “That’s great, Pidge! Somewhere inside Sendak’s memories, we should be able to find the key information we need to take down Zarkon.”

“I don’t think your father would approve of searching through an enemy’s memories,” Coran says, his tone disapproving.

“I know,” Allura sighs, “but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon.”

“Anything good yet, Pidge?” Shiro asks.

“We were only able to salvage bits and pieces,” Pidge frowns. “I haven’t found anything that we don’t already know.”

Keith groans. “We need something to work with. Right now, we don’t even have a decent map of the Empire.”

“Who needs a map?” Lance asks. “After ten thousand years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship.”

“If we could just find troop locations or supply routes—small targets we could hit and run—then we could start to free planets one by one.”

“That would take, like, _years,_ though,” Hunk says.

“Zarkon’s had ten thousand years to build his empire. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake.”

“Okay!” Pidge says happily. “I’ve cross-referenced Sendak’s memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating: something called a ‘Universal Station.’”

“Universal Station?” Hunk asks. “Like, the kind of station that controls the universe?”

“Well, we _are_ translating it from Galran, so it could also mean ‘Galactic Hub.’”

“Or ‘Space Base,’” Lance says, earning a grin from Hunk.

Coran leads the group into the control room, where he types a string of Altean phrases onto his keyboard. “I’m pulling up the location of your Universal… Hub… Base on our screens now.” Coran pauses before continuing, “I’m unable to find anything at those coordinates on our long-range scanners.”

“Maybe he remembered it wrong,” Keith suggests.

“Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak’s memories,” Pidge grins.

“Only one way to find out,” Allura says. “Let’s go take a look.” She steps up to the Castle’s controls and sets the Castle’s autopilot to the coordinates. As it turns out, the planet is close by, and Allura stations the Castle behind a large orange planet.

“We should be close enough to get a good scan,” Allura says, maneuvering the Castle forward by just a few feet. It’s enough to reveal what’s behind the planet: a large Galran base.

“There it is,” Shiro says. “This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire.”

“If this is just some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?” Pidge asks.

“There’s gotta be more to this than what we’re seeing,” Lance nods.

“Then we’d better go down and take a look,” Allura says. She pulls up something on her scanner. “We’ll need to enter here, in the central control building.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, Princess, did you say… _’We?’”_

Allura nods, simpering proudly. “I’m going with you. I’ve traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you.”

“Princess, I’d rather you stay here,” Coran says. “Who knows what the Galra would do to you if you were to be captured?”

Lance forces down his urge to shudder as Allura retaliates. “I’m a part of this operation as much as anyone on this team. I’m going. Does anyone have a problem with that?”

Coran looks expectantly at Shiro, who merely shrugs. “Fine; suit up.”

The team quickly suits up and gets to their Lions, and as soon as Blue exits her hangar, Lance taps his foot anxiously. He’s worried about what may happen to Allura during this mission, and he’s right to be; if the Galra capture Allura, there’s no telling the horrors they’ll force her to endure.

After landing on the planet and infiltrating the central control building quietly, Shiro leads them into the main room. A guard in the front yawns, and Shiro sneaks behind him and attacks him, effectively knocking him unconscious. Lance swiftly takes out the other two guards and drags them behind the cover of a desk.

“How’s it looking out there, Keith?” Shiro asks as Keith scans their surroundings.

“All clear,” He reports.

Hunk sets up his computer and begins typing. “This shouldn’t take too long,” He says, allowing Pidge to take over the computer. “We should have all the information we need in a few minutes.”

“Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info,” Pidge explains as a poorly-drawn, comical glyph of Pidge appears on the screen, accompanied by robotic giggling. “We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Hunk had a great idea of how to do it.”

“Hey, guys,” Keith says as a shadow covers the room. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think we’ve got company.”

A huge Galra craft touches down in front of them and begins unloading its cargo, which seems to be a series of large containers filled with yellow liquid.

“Think we should get out of here?” Keith asks.

“We just need a few more seconds,” Pidge protests, typing rapidly.

Shiro ducks his head. “Stay low,” He orders. “We _need_ this intel.”

Suddenly, the monitor beeps and displays an image of a Galran sentry. The team ducks for cover, and the sentry cocks its head, clearly confused by the lack of communication.

Hunk drags the body of an offline sentry over to the center of the room, then props it up, making various signals with its hand. The guard on the screen shrugs and nods, then ends the broadcast. “Nice job, Hunk!” Lance praises, high-giving the motionless sentry’s hand. Hunk grins at him.

“Okay, I have the info downloaded,” Pidge says, then reviews the data. “It’s… Nothing. This place doesn’t have _any_ useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out.”

“Guess this whole thing was a bust,” Lance frowns.

Shiro nods. “Let’s get back to the Castle.”

“Hold on,” Allura says. “Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?”

Pidge purses her lips. “Um… It’s scheduled to be here for about half an hour, then head off to Central Command.”

“That’s where they have the information we need, and I’m going to sneak aboard the ship and get it for us,” Allura announces, determination evident in her eyes.

“No way,” Lance shakes his head.

“How are you even going to get in?” Keith asks.

Allura concentrates, and suddenly, she grows in height. Her brown skin turns purple, and her markings disappear. “I’m going to walk right through the front,” She says simply as the rest of the team gapes.

“How the heck did you do that?” Hunk asks, his mouth agape.

“The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It’s an ability that’s made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history.” She nods at the sentry on the ground. “I can use his uniform as a disguise.”

“I can’t let you go in alone,” Shiro shakes his head.

“Excuse me?” Allura raises an eyebrow. “I do _not_ need your permission.

“It’s too dangerous,” Shiro reasons. “I’m going in with you.”

 _”You_ will stick out like a Choferiak’s nose,” Allura argues.

“You’re going to need that nose, Princess,” Pidge says. She lifts Shiro’s arm by the elbow. “Shiro’s hand is made from Galra tech. It’s the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel.” She waves Shiro’s hand, grinning at the blank expression on his face. “I can monitor the download remotely from here.”

Allura sighs, narrowing her eyes. “Fine. You can come.”

“Uh,” Hunk says, glancing at Pidge’s laptop. “You guys had better leave soon if you want to get on and off the ship before it leaves for Zarkon central.”

“How are you gonna get Shiro on board?” Keith asks.

“Let _me_ worry about that,” Allura says, walking out of the room briskly and dragging the dead sentry behind her. Shiro follows, and soon, they exit the building and board the Galra ship.

“What do you think they have in all those giant yellow containers?” Keith asks, filling the empty, awkward silence.

“Maybe this guy will tell us,” Pidge says, staring at the lifeless sentry that she’s hooked up to her laptop. “What is coming in and out of this station?” She asks.

The sentry flinches. “Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown.” It’s head falls forward, and Pidge grins.

“Not talking, eh?”

She hunches over her laptop and types a series of codes to hack the sentry even further.

“Woah,” Keith breathes, staring out the window. “Check out this guy.”

A cloaked figure speaks to one of the sentries escorting the vats of yellow liquid.

“Whatever’s happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude.”

Keith pauses before continuing, “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“Like hell you are,” Lance scoffs. “We need to wait for Shiro and Allura to come back. This is a discussion for another day.”

“What do you suppose we do, then?” Keith argues. “Just let them carry on with whatever they’re doing?”

“Lance is right,” Pidge says. “Shiro and Allura should be back soon.”

Keith sighs and crosses his arms, but keeps his line of sight trained on the cloaked figure.

To pass the time, Lance helps Pidge hack the sentry. “Done!” Pidge chirps, relaxing. “Would you like to help us, Mr. Robot?”

The robot pauses, then shakes its head violently.

“Whoops.” Pidge types something else, and suddenly, the sentry shudders.

“What are the Galra transporting in and out of this station?” Pidge repeats.

The sentry flinches. “The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe.”

“Hey, nice job, Pidge!” Hunk says. “You made him work for us!”

“Oh, no,” Lance grimaces. “This isn’t good _at all.”_

“Impossible,” Coran breathes over the comms. “That’s… Impossible!”

“Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galran fuel requirements,” The sentry finishes.

“I can’t believe it!” Coran says. “They’ve found a new way to acquire quintessence!”

“Pidge, we need immediate extraction!” Shiro shouts, and Lance hears gunshots over the comms.

Allura says something that Lance can’t make out as Pidge stands and sprints out of the building. The rest of the team follows her, and they quickly launch the Green Lion.

“Allura!” Shiro shouts. Lance’s heart rate increases, and he chews his lip nervously.

“Shiro, what’s going on?!” Lance asks frantically.

Shiro doesn’t answer.

“Shiro?”

A pod approaches the Green Lion, and after Pidge sees that Shiro is inside, she collects it and allows Shiro and Allura to come aboard. Lance sighs in relief, knowing that Allura is okay.

His heart drops into his stomach when Shiro enters the Green Lion’s cockpit without Allura.

“Shiro,” Lance asks quietly. “Where’s Allura?”

Shiro bows his head. The hair on the back of Lance’s neck stands on end.

Finally, he answers Lance. “They captured her.”

Lance stares at the ceiling, trying to calm his nerves. “Fuck!” He shouts suddenly, startiling everyone. “Oh, God, this is horrible!”

“Lance, calm down—“ Hunk says, but Lance ignores him.

“You _lost_ her?! Do you have any idea what he’ll do to her?!” Lance panics, his face paling.

“He?” Hunk asks.

“Zarkon!” Lance shouts. Pidge flinches. “They’re going to bring her to central command. He’s going to torture her! We have to get her back!”

“Lance, we’ll get her back,” Keith says calmly.

“Yeah, calm down,” Pidge frowns. 

“I don’t think you understand how severe of a situation we’re in,” Lance says, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turn white. “This is bad. Really, _really_ bad.”

“Why are you getting so worked up over this?” PIdge asks, clearly annoyed. “I mean, we’re obviously going to do everything in our power to get her back. We’re all upset, but you’re taking this the hardest. Relax.”

Anger surges through Lance’s veins, and his hands shake at his sides. This is it. He can’t keep running from the inevitable. One way or another, this team will find out about his heritage, and unless he takes this chance, it will be _weeks_ before he gets another opportunity to confess.

It’s time to stop running from the truth. 

He lowers his head and lets out a shout, startling everyone.

 _”I’m getting worked up about this because Allura is my sister!”_ Lance yells.

Lance slowly raises his head and realizes that he’s crying. Everyone stares at him, shell-shocked, their eyes wide and their mouths agape as Pidge lands the Green Lion in its hangar. She stares at him skeptically, her expression unbelieving.

“Are you joking?” She asks.

Lance grinds his teeth together, his face heating as new tears fall down his face. “I’m Altean.”

Hunk tries to look into his eyes, but he averts his gaze. “King Alfor was my father, and Queen Arin was my mother,” He growls. “Sixteen years ago, this Castle sent me to Earth under my dad’s orders, and my family on Earth took me in. I found out the second day we were in space.”

“And you kept this from us?” Keith asks.

“Well, how was I supposed to tell you?” Lance snaps, crossing his arms. “I tried, but every time I did, something more important happened!”

“Are you guys really buying into this?” Pidge deadpans. “I don’t believe you. I’m really sorry, Lance; I really do trust you, but I just can’t believe this. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Lance sighs, seething silently. “Come with me,” He says as the team exits the pod. Hunk puts a hand on his shoulder as Lance tries to lead the team into the hallway where Allura’s room lies, but Lance flinches, pulling his shoulder away harshly.

“Coran, we need you in Allura’s room,” Lance says. “I’m doing it.”

“Doing what, exactly?” Pidge asks sarcastically. “Putting on a crown and dancing around the room?”

Lance glares at her. “You’re halfway correct,” He says icily. “I’m going to make you believe me, one way or another. And I want you to know that this is _your_ fault; you need to know that the pain I’m about to endure is because of _you._

“Lance!” Coran says, entering the hallway. He’s panting, so Lance can only assume that he ran here as soon as he received Lance’s message. “Lance, don’t do this!”

“It’s time, Coran,” Lance says, entering Allura’s room and beckoning his team inside. “Pidge, go grab that circlet on Allura’s dresser.”

Pidge rolls her eyes and trudges over to Allura’s dresser. She grabs the circlet and holds it out towards Lance expectantly. 

“Look at the gem in the middle,” Lance instructs. “Is it glowing?”

Pidge stares at Lance. “No, Lance, it’s not glowing.”

“That’s because it’s programmed to react to Prince Lance’s—also known as _my—_ DNA.” Lance steps forward, and the gem starts to glow. Pidge’s jaw drops.

“Now, give me the crown. If I touch it, then the spell my father put on me when I was a baby will break, and I’ll revert to my original Altean form.”

“Lance, the pain that you’ll go through is unimaginable,” Coran warns, but Lance shakes his head as Pidge holds the diadem close to her.

“If you’re going to be in pain for this, then I’m not giving you the circlet.”

Lance grits his teeth. “Give it to me, Pidge. I want to make my identity clear.”

“Lance, you can’t—“ Hunk begins, but Lance silences him.

“No, Hunk!” Lance interrupts. “I’ve waited too long for this to sit by and not do this.”

Pidge reluctantly holds out the circlet, and Lance reaches out, closing his fingers around it gently. The gem glows even more brilliantly, and Lance slowly lowers the diadem onto his head. “Coran, I don’t feel anything.”

“Your hair,” Keith says, his eyes wide with consternation. Lance inspects his hair in the mirror on Allura’s wall and finds that it’s slowly turning white, starting from the tips and slowly creeping into the roots. It doesn’t hurt; it feels cold, though, and his head itches uncomfortably.

After his hair has turned completely white, Lance tightens his jaw. “What about my markings?” He furrows his eyebrows.

“Brace yourself, Lance,” Coran says softly, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Coran..?”

And suddenly, Lance is on the floor, holding himself up on all fours, screaming in complete and utter agony as his body convulses. His stomach does backflips, and his lungs shrivel and grow anew. Lance’s face burns intensely, and his eyes feel like they’re being pressed on with a cotton ball dipped in ammonia. Invisible fire dances across his skin, lighting up his arms and tracing intricate patterns along his wrists. 

“Let me go!” Someone shouts roughly. “I have to help him! _Please!”_

“There’s nothing to be done!” Coran shouts back. “He has to wait this out.”

“Lance!” The same voice shouts, and Lance recognizes it as Keith.

Lance’s chest tightens, and suddenly, he can’t breathe. He has an unsettling feeling that it’s not just his new lungs making him feel this way. “Keith,” He chokes out hoarsely, letting out another wail of agony afterward. 

Lance stares at his wrists, which have intertwined blue and pink lines etched into them. His skin is darker now; his tan skin has been replaced by the same rich brown pigment that Allura has. 

Slowly, the blinding pain subsides, turning into a dull burning sensation that throbs in the back of his head. Lance lies on the ground, panting, hot tears falling onto the floor below him. “Oh, god,” He gasps, heaving. “Holy _shit.”_

“Lance?” Hunk asks. A hand reaches out in front of him, and Lance takes it, keeping his head bowed. 

“Let us see,” Pidge commands softly, her voice quiet and remorseful. She stands far away enough so that even she can’t see Lance’s face. “Come on.”

Painfully slowly, Lance raises his head, and the entire room gasps. Lance turns his head and stares at himself in the mirror.

His hair is completely white, and his skin is much darker than before. Pink markings—the same shade as Allura’s—rest on his cheeks. His blue eyes are even brighter now; they’ve turned the same turquoise shade as Allura’s. His ears have elongated. The diadem that rests on his head seems to shine even more brilliantly, standing out against the darkness of his skin. 

Lance turns to face his team with a sigh, and suddenly, Keith is right in front of him, bringing a hand up to his face and resting below his jaw to steady it. “Amazing,” He says in awe, staring at Lance like he’s the eighth wonder of the world. Keith runs a thumb over Lance’s markings, mesmerized.

Lance stares into Keith’s dark eyes, barely resisting the urge to _kisshimkisshimkisshim_ as his lips unwillingly part. 

Lance closes his eyes and heaves a sigh, pulling away from Keith’s touch. He meets Coran’s gaze and nods, then looks at Hunk, who looks hurt. Lance opens his mouth to say something, but before he can even speak a word, Hunk barrels forward and grabs Lance in a bear hug. Lance feels new tears spring to his eyes. “I’m sorry,” Lance says so softly that only Hunk can hear him. “I’m so sorry.”

Pidge darts forward and wraps her arms around Lance from behind, effectively embracing what little of Lance that Hunk can’t reach. Shiro joins the embrace, and soon, so do Keith and Coran.

“You never had to hide this from us, Lance,” Shiro says warmly. “We’ll always accept you for who you are.”

Lance buries his face in Hunk’s shoulder, muffling his gasps for breath. “We’re gonna find her,” Keith assures, placing his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “We’ll do everything we can to find her, and we’re going to make sure the Galra pay for whatever they might do to her.”

Lance nods and squeezes Hunk tighter, feeling something ignite in his chest. It’s a feeling that he’s only found within Allura’s comfort during these past few weeks, and it takes him a few seconds to register what it really is. Lance closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and welcomes the phrase that enters his mind:

_This is home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING?! I'VE BEEN BUILDING UP TO THIS FOR MONTHS, AND NOW IT'S FINALLY HERE. AAAAH!
> 
> All elation aside, thank you for reading! More chapters are coming :)


	17. A Promise to be Kept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance makes a promise.

Lance stares at himself in the mirror long after everyone else has cleared out of the room, promising that they’ll do their best to find his sister.

Lance doesn’t want their promises. Lance wants to know that Allura has been safely returned to the Castle, that she’ll never be in danger again. He wants to promise his father and his mother and everyone who’s ever had a connection to him that he’ll do everything in his power to keep Allura out of harm’s way, because no matter how strong she is, it tears Lance apart to think that she’s in danger.

And he does exactly that.

Lance leans forward, placing his hand gently on the glass mirror, staring into his own eyes and sighing as the eyes that once belonged to his mother and the eyes that Allura looks through stare back at him. “Father,” Lance says quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Alfor. Dad. I promise I’ll never let anything happen to Allura again. I’ll do everything I can to protect her.”

Lance pauses, attempting to process the vision that he received from Blue a few days ago in which he was on Altea. 

“That’s my job, isn’t it?” Lance asks, knowing full well that there will be no answer. “To protect the Royal Family. That’s what I did in the other reality.”

The empty silence in the room is almost deafening. The only sound that Lance can hear is the faintness of his own short, stuttering breaths as he tries to generate more words.

“If I have to, I’m supposed to die for her, right?”

The lights flicker. Lance’s head snaps up to the walls, where the white lights hang precariously. “Dad?”

The lights flicker once again, and Lance furrows his eyebrows, tears springing to his eyes. “...Dad,” He says softly, turning back to his reflection. “You heard my promise? I want you to know that I meant it.”

The lights flicker thrice. Lance doesn’t know how this is happening, but he’s certainly not complaining, so he continues to speak. “I’ll do everything in my power to protect Allura. The same goes for my team. If the cost of their survival is my death, then so be it.”

The lights begin to flicker rapidly, almost in a panicking state, and Lance opens his mouth to say something again when the door opens. “Lance,” Hunk says quietly. “Coran wants to see you.”

“What about?” Lance asks. “Is something wrong?”

“We can’t find her.” Hunk winces and purses his lips, waiting for a string of expletives to stream from Lance’s lips. “Wait, wait!” Hunk says, holding his hands up before Lance can speak another word. “Coran thinks you’re the only person able to find her. I don’t know what he said exactly, but it was something about magic. What does that mean?”

Lance sprints out of the room as fast as he can, turning to run down the hall and take the shortcut that will get him to the Holodeck as quickly as possible. He ignores Hunk’s confused calling behind him.

“Lance?” Hunk asks confusedly.

Lance reaches the Holodeck in half a minute, and he grins upon realizing it’s his new personal best. He pants, jogging towards Coran and running a hand through his hair. “What do you need to me to do?”

“Well, for starters, we can’t even pilot the Castle,” Coran frowns. “But most importantly, we’re not able to find Allura.”

Lance’s eye twitches. He ignores the way his team stares at him confusedly in his peripheral vision and raises an eyebrow at Coran, silently asking him to continue.

“I have a theory.”

“About my magic?”

“Magic…?” Pidge asks quietly behind him.

“About both your _and_ Allura’s magic,” Coran says, and Lance nods. “I believe you can track her quintessence.” 

“Do you have any idea how I can do that?” Lance asks.

Coran shrugs apologetically. “No idea. My best guess would be to just focus on Allura.”

“Let’s try something better,” Lance purses his lips, staring at the ground. “What if I focused on…?”

“Lance?”

Lance shakes his head and lowers himself until he’s kneeling on the ground with one knee. He bows his head and places a hand on the ground, concentrating on the second presence he felt on the Balmera.

“On the Balmera,” Lance explains softly. “When I was doing the ritual, before I died, Allura was there. Her presence was only there for a little while, but if I can remember what her quintessence felt like, I may be able to find her.”

“Lance, you’d have to use more quintessence to do that,” Coran says. “That’s practically a death wish. You don’t have enough in your reserves to do that.”

“I have just enough to do it without going through what happened last time,” Lance says. “If I’m careful, I’ll be fine.”

“Lance, if there’s a risk that you’ll die again, I don’t want you to do whatever you’re trying to do,” Shiro says behind Lance. “We don’t know what you’re capable of right now.”

Lance turns his head and glares at Shiro. “You’re right,” He says angrily, gritting his teeth. “You have _no idea_ what I’m capable of.”

“Lance,” Shiro says warily, his tone warning.

“I made a promise,” Lance says. “I promised that I’d protect Allura. And if I die, I die.”

“You just met her weeks ago!” Pidge says, furrowing her eyebrows.

Lance narrows his eyes. “She’s the last of my family that I have left, Pidge!” He shouts. “I’m one of three full-blooded Alteans left in this universe. I’ll do what I have to in order to keep us alive.”

When no one says anything, Lance continues, “My planet was destroyed. My mother and father were murdered in cold blood by their comrades. I’ll never stop fighting until I know that Zarkon is dead and that his reign is over. I’ve seen and will continue to see things that none of you ever will.” 

“You can’t act on revenge--” Pidge reasons, but Lance interrupts her.

“I can if he killed my parents, Pidge! My family! You _know_ how important family is to me! He is the cause of everything in my life--if he hadn’t done the things he did, I would have grown up on Altea with my family!”

“You wouldn’t be here with us,” Hunk says.

“My _family,”_ Lance says hoarsely. “Hunk, mi familia.”

Hunk grimaces.

Lance bows his head, returning his hand to the ground once more. “This is the last straw. I’m never going to let Zarkon mess with my family again.” 

“We’ll get Allura back, Lance,” Pidge promises.

“No,” Lance shakes his head. “My _my family._ You guys are my family now, too.”

Hunk draws in a breath sharply, and Lance doesn’t have to look at him to know that he’s starting to cry. 

Lance decides to end this conversation while he can and concentrates on finding Allura. His tongue darts out of his mouth and rests in the corner of his lips as he tries to recall what Allura’s quintessence felt like. Of course, he doesn’t have much to go off of, so it’s fairly difficult to trace his sister.

Powerful?

Yes, strong. Mighty, even. Allura’s quintessence matches her personality: strong, almost too strong--so strong that it might make some recoil until truly figuring Allura out, which can take a fair amount of someone’s time. 

And so Lance searches; he closes his eyes, inhales deeply, and lets his mind concentrate on finding someplace it has never wandered before: the astral plane.

Lance feels like he’s shivering, but when he opens his eyes to look at his hands, he can’t see his hands. Instead, he stares at his own body, which lies on the floor motionlessly as his team gathers around him. From what he can see, his eyes are a milky white, and his skin has paled greatly. His mouth hangs open, and he seems to be taking in staccato breaths. 

This is it; he’s entered the astral plane. 

Lance attempts to move away from his body, and after a few seconds, he successfully does so. He focuses on tracking Allura’s quintessence now that he remembers its traces, and as his nonexistent projection floats out of the Castle and into deep space, he concentrates on the signature that Allura’s quintessence left. Within seconds, he’s traveling faster than he believed was possible, flying through the stars like some sort of Alien Peter Pan. Lance stops abruptly in front of a Galran ship, which he passes through with ease. He finds himself in some sort of prison cell.

 _’No,’_ Lance realizes, _’Allura’s prison cell.’_

Lance scans the figure--Allura--huddled in the corner. She seems unharmed, for which Lance is glad. He tries to move, but suddenly, he’s rendered immobile, unable to do something as insignificant as moving his eyes.

And suddenly, miles away on a pristine white Castle-ship, Lance shoots up on the med-bay’s cot, drenched in sweat, eyes quickly clearing of their murky white color as he desperately gasps for air to fill his lungs. He shivers violently, his hands flying to his face.

“Lance!” Coran says, prompting Lance to even out his irregular breathing. He’s wheezing like an asthmatic now, his chest and throat aching dully as he swallows down a few more breaths to sustain him. “Breathe. Come on, now.”

“Found--” Lance stutters out, pausing to take in another ragged, staccato breath. “Found Allura.”

“What?” Hunk asks. “How?!”

Lance forces himself to smile as he heaves. “M-magic, dude. The perks of… Being…” Lance clutches his throat gently, hoping to alleviate some of the pain. “Being Altean. I get to be a wizard.”

Pidge snorts. “Are you okay?”

“Lungs are dying,” Lance says, his breathing starting to regulate. “But yeah, just peachy.”

“You said you found Allura?” Shiro asks.

Lance nods. “Don’t know the coordinates, but I can take you there. As far as I know, she’s okay.”

“Good job, Harry Potter,” Pidge says. “Thank you for making us think you died a _second_ time. It was lovely.”

Lance laughs. “Call me that again and I really will die.”

“Avada Kedavra, Potter,” Pidge says, pointing a finger lazily at Lance. Lance grins at leans forward, snapping his mouth shut near her finger and snickering at the way she recoils surprisedly.

“All right,” Lance says. “I’ve gotta pilot the Castle before I forget where Allura is.” A chill runs down his spine, forcing him to shiver before he turns to Coran. “Do you think I could open a wormhole?”

 

Pidge freezes. “You already did,” She says suddenly, her mouth wide open.

Lance cocks his head. “What?”

“That wormhole that brought the Blue Lion to Arus…” She says, her eyebrows furrowed. “I think you subconsciously brought us to Arus.”

Lance nods slowly. “I think you may be right. After all, my form doesn’t hinder my magic. I could just as easily pilot the Castle in my human form than I could in my Altean form.”

“Oh, my god,” Pidge grins. “I am doing _so_ many experiments on you after this.”

“Stay back, vermin,” Lance glares at her. He turns to Coran. “Anyways, can I open a wormhole? Please?”

“Yeah, please, Coran?” Pidge asks. “I wanna study Lance like he’s a lab rat.”

“You’re not doing anything else that requires you to use your quintessence, Lance,” Coran says pointedly. “You gave us quite a scare. And next time, something worse than you falling unconscious could happen.”

“No, Coran, I think…” Lance looks at his hands and sees pink and blue lights glowing softly and pulls up his sleeve. The pink and blue patterns on his wrist are now glowing, and Lance stares at them, mesmerized. “I think my circlet refilled my quintessence reserves.”

“Really?” Coran asks. “Interesting!”

Lance holds up his wrist for Coran to see. “I don’t think glowing wrists are normal when you don’t have any quintessence left, so… Yeah, I think I’m good to pilot the Castle.”

“What do those markings on your wrist mean?” Keith asks. “I’ve never seen them on Allura before.”

“I have no idea,” Lance says. “I mean, I think the pink is because of my markings, but beyond that… No clue, man.”

“Well, Lance, if you really think you’re able to pilot the Castle to Allura, we should hurry,” Coran says, helping Lance to his feet. “We don’t want you to forget her whereabouts.”

Lance’s face hardens, and he drags himself towards the door leading into the hallway with some difficulty. “Come on,” He says, his voice turning more serious than he’s ever heard it. “Let’s go get my sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY 2018!!! I can't wait to write more this year! Anyways, I hope you like these next few chapters--they'll stray from canon a _lot._
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	18. Altean Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance finds something he lost and gains something just as powerful.

Before Allura disappeared, Lance had imagined confessing to his team and finally being able to pilot the Castle, to deliver them away from harm’s way, to have some sort of use to the team other than piloting Blue.

Now, however, as he pilots the Castle into the hands of the monster who slew his mother and father, who ripped his world from his infantile fingers when he was barely old enough to open his eyes, his thoughts are filled with nothing but static and exhaustion as he wills the wormhole to appear.

“You’re doing great, Lance,” Coran says. “It’s almost complete.”

Lance doesn’t dare open his eyes. He’s afraid of what he might see if he does. His hands grip the controls of the Castle so tightly he’s sure his knuckles have turned completely white, and finally, after a few painstakingly slow minutes, Lance’s tense frame relaxes, allowing him to gasp in a breath and let his eyelids fly open. He pants and looks ahead of him.

There, swirling with dust and colors and a billion glittering stars, is a wormhole that he’s created with his own mind. He grins tiredly. “Holy shit,” He says, and Pidge echoes him.

“Holy shit,” She agrees, stepping forward as the Castle drifts forward and through the wormhole.

And the tranquil galaxy that the Castle had called home for only a few days disappears, shifting into a view of a blood-red planet that’s surrounded by hundreds of Galran infrastructures. Lance shudders as Coran’s face brightens.

“You did it, Lance!” He says. “I’m detecting Allura’s energy signature. From this distance, it’s pretty weak, but it gives us enough to work with.”

“Yeah,” Lance rubs his temples, feeling something overwhelm his senses at once. He recognizes it as an overflow of quintessence, but it’s not what he’s been exposed to thus far.

“You okay?” Hunk asks.

“Yeah,” Lance says, wincing. “Something bad’s here. I feel a _lot_ of quintessence, but it’s… Weird. It’s cold. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

“Zarkon’s witch,” Shiro supplies. “That’s my best guess.”

Lance grimaces and nods. “Let’s hope none of us run into her.”

There’s a brief pause as Coran types something into the database. “We should be able to narrow down Allura’s location as we get closer. She’s somewhere on the main ship.”

“Okay, guys,” Shiro says, “this is it. Voltron’s going to come in fast and without warning. We’ll smash into Zarkon’s ship and grab the Princess. Before they know what hit ‘em, we’ll have Allura and be on our way. Get to your lions.”

Lance doesn’t have to be told twice. Before he can even process what he’s doing, he’s already in the elevator that leads to his hangar. He sprints to Blue in record time, and when she opens her maw for Lance to enter, he realizes he’s panting. “Hey, girl,” Lance greets. 

Upon realizing that Lance isn’t human anymore, Blue rumbles contently. Almost pridefully, if Lance had known any better.

“Okay,” Shiro says once all of the lions are out in the open. “Form Voltron!”

And Lance, with a determination that he’s never encountered before, forms the right leg of Voltron, feeling a small smile creep onto his face as his chest bursts with the familiar urge to help those who can’t help themselves.

“Let’s go save Allura,” Lance says quietly over the comms as Voltron bursts forward, flying right into Zarkon’s evil clutches.

As Voltron creeps closer to Zarkon’s ship, a pulsing purple barrier forms around the entire perimeter, almost resembling… “A particle barrier,” Lance says suddenly. “They know we’re coming.”

“Let’s hope we can still get out of here once we get the Princess,” Keith replies.

The ship’s ion cannons begin to charge. “They’re gonna fire!” Pidge warns, and Voltron dodges out of the way just in time to miss the dozens of beams of white-hot energy that fire at the team.

“Form sword!” Shiro instructs as they come face-to-face with one of the main command fleets. Almost instantly, Voltron’s sword appears; Keith plunges it into the ship’s roof and scrapes through the entire ship, effectively slicing it in half. It shatters into pieces with a huge explosion.

Voltron moves onto the next few ships, slicing and dicing them into halves and turning to face new enemies as their previous opponents explode into nothingness.

“There’s the ship!” Shiro says as the last of the defensive fleets disappears. Voltron charges forward, but suddenly, something cold spreads through Lance’s veins, and Voltron stops in its tracks. Lance sees a flash of purple eyes in his imagination and flinches.

_Zarkon._

“What’s happening?!” Hunk asks frantically.

“Something’s malfunctioning!” Keith answers. Lance slams Blue’s controls forward, but she doesn’t move an inch.

The iciness in Lance’s veins spreads, and suddenly, all five lions fly away from each other, forcing their pilots to cover their ears as the sounds of screeching metal become deafening.

“We just got pulled apart,” Hunk says in realization. “Something’s messing with us.”

“We’ve got bigger problems,” PIdge says in horror. “Look,” She says, turning her lion around.

Behind them, a fleet of anywhere between fifty and a hundred Galran battleships cruise towards the lions at an alarming speed. “Why do I feel like these guys knew we were coming?” Keith asks, worry beginning to creep into his voice.

Hundreds of smaller battlecruisers emerge from Zarkon’s main fleet as well, rocketing towards the lions and firing away with all of their might. The lions immediately spring into action, Lance freezing whatever ships he can and firing at the rest.

“There’s no way we can beat this many of them!” Hunk cries.

Suddenly, something white catches in Lance’s peripheral vision. The Castle-ship fires its weaponry at the fleets. “Coran attack!” Coran says, his voice laced with determination. “I’ve waited ten thousand years for this!”

“Shiro, are you okay?!” Keith asks suddenly.

Lance looks around and notices that Shiro is nowhere to be found. “Something is overriding my controls!” Shiro grunts. “My lion isn’t responding!”

“Something’s wrong with Shiro,” Keith says, “I’m going in.”

“What do we do?!” Hunk groans. “Our plan isn’t working!”

“I’m going for the Black Lion,” Shiro pants. “You guys get the Princess.”

“I’ve got her,” Lance says suddenly, closing his eyes. He can _feel_ Allura now, her presence lingering in the back of his mind just enough for him to find her. He pulls out of the battle and rockets towards the left side of Zarkon’s ship, where the prisoners are kept. “I’ll go alone. It’s safer. You guys stay and fight.”

“Are you insane?!” Pidge asks. “What if you encounter Zarkon? Or that witch you were talking about?!”

“I’ll be fine,” Lance says as the Blue Lion crashes into the side of the ship. “Coran?” He asks, bolting up from the cockpit and sprinting out of Blue’s maw.

“Yes, Lance?” Coran asks, still firing away at ships.

“Avenge us.”

An explosion rocks the ship, and Lance looks to his side before realizing that Allura isn’t in the room.

“Woah, who is _that?”_ Keith asks, prompting a gasp from Coran.

“Keith, that’s Zarkon! Get out of there as soon as possible!”

Lance swears under his breath, sprinting through the halls to find Allura. She’s close, she’s so _incredibly close,_ and Lance only has a little ways to go before he finds her.

“This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire,” Keith responds. “I have to take it!”

“Keith, no!” Lance says. “He’ll kill you!”

“Lance?!” Someone asks. Lance freezes and sprints even harder, coming to a stop in front of a prison door and kicking it down. 

“Allura!” He responds, taking off his helmet so that he can hug her properly. 

Allura gasps. “Your face…”

Lance grimaces. “I freaked out once Shiro told us you went missing. I had to tell them.”

“Was it painful?”

“Excruciating. That’s not the point. We’ve gotta find Shiro and get out of here.”

Allura nods, and Lance slides his helmet back on. He pulls up his tracker on his gauntlet and finds the black dot that represents Shiro, who is surrounded by purple, meaning he’s been cornered by the Galra.

“She got to him first,” Lance realizes, grabbing Allura’s wrist. “Come on! We’ve gotta hurry!”

“Champion,” A voice hisses over the comms. Lance shudders upon realizing that the voice seems to be familiar to him.

“Zarkon’s witch,” Allura realizes as Lance reaches Shiro’s location. He bursts through the doors.

“Shiro!” He cries, picking up his bayard and firing at the cloaked figure that surrounds Shiro. It disappears, then reappears beside him.

“And now, Champion,” The witch hisses, standing over Shiro. “Your time is over.”

Lance hits her square in the back. She falters before turning, her smile melting off her face.

She stares at Lance. “You’re alive,” She says suddenly, her expression twisted with disbelief and disgust. _”How?!”_

Lance fires at her once more, but she appears next to him and grabs his wrists, bounding them together and transporting him across the room. “How sweet,” She coos, her voice gravelly. “The Prince of Altea, avenging mommy and daddy and all of his beloved kin.”

Lance struggles against her grip as Allura attempts to grab him, but the witch disappears with him once more. 

“Would you like to see your dear, sweet parents in their final moments while I put an end to your sister’s life?”

Lance frees his right arm from her grip and hits her with a solid right hook. She stumbles, but after regaining her composer, she growls, raising her hand and balling up something murky and glowing in her palm. She slowly lowers it to Lance’s side and drags it across his body, and Lance falls to his knees, mouth opened in a silent scream. 

It feels like lava. It’s so hot that it feels cold, and Lance shivers violently, as the substance rips into his torso and digs through his skin. He opens his mouth and lets loose the most terrible scream he’s ever heard, ignoring the way Shiro and Allura are calling his name worriedly. The witch throws him against the wall, and as he sails through the air, she shows him exactly what she wants him to see, all in under a few seconds.

She shows him his mother’s terrified expression as she glances down at the blade that protrudes from her stomach, blood already seeping through her gorgeous white robes. Her last words to the witch are a frantic, “Please, Honerva--Haggar--don’t harm my children, _please!”_ As she slumps forward, her leg still crushed under the weight of the collapsing building.

She shows him his father, engaged in battle with Zarkon, pleading with him to remember what his comrade had once forgotten as Zarkon stands wearing the armor of the Black Paladin, the ivory white of the suit stained red with the blood of countless Alteans and comrades. His father, falling to the ground and shouting in pain, his eyes clouding over as Zarkon plunges his battle axe into Alfor’s chest. Laughing as the light leaves his eyes. As he coughs up blood, as he rasps out, “My children…” And suddenly falls limp.

Lance cries out as he hits the wall, shouting partially in pain but mostly in grievance. He struggles to his feet, his markings flashing dangerously. Anger surges through him, overcoming him, _enrapturing_ him, until--

“Lance, your eyes…” Allura says in awe. Lance glares at Haggar, stepping forward.

“Murderer,” He says, his voice raw. “You _murdered_ them. You killed my mother.”

“I regret nothing, fool,” She says, a cruel smile on her face.

_“Haggar,”_ Lance spits. “You laughed and watched my mother died. You let her die. She’s dead--because of _you.”_

Lance feels something collide with his body--no, _enter_ his body--something invisible that steps through him and pushes him into the astral plane. He stares at himself. His eyes are glowing bright blue, brighter than a flame, and his markings are flashing red. Something similar to whatever Haggar hit him with swirls in his palms, but instead of glowing a murky purple, it glows the same blue shade as his eyes. He suddenly lurches forward and slams back into his body, his senses heightening.

He takes a step forward, and Haggar narrows her eyes.

He takes a deep breath.

And he hurls the flames--no, the _quintessence_ \--in his palms, urging and guiding them to hit Haggar straight on. She stumbles and roars in pain.

“Vermin!” She shouts. “You cannot defeat me with your fledgling quintessence!”

Lance snarls, and suddenly, the blue glow that emits from him turns gold. Allura gasps.

He forces the quintessence in his palm to strike out at Haggar once more, cutting through the air so quickly and gracefully that it looks like golden lightning. She flies backward and hits the wall.

“Pure quintessence!” She shrieks, struggling as she tries to crawl forward, but too injured to stand. “Pure, pure quintessence! Child, have you any idea how helpful you will be to the Empire?!”

Lance collapses. The adrenaline pumping through his veins turns into exhaustion and pain, and Allura rushes forward to grab him. The color of his eyes has turned back into the bright blue that matches his sister’s, and Lance struggles to get to his feet and take a few steps.

_“Lance,”_ Allura says in awe. “That was amazing!”

“We’ve gotta get out of here,” Shiro says. “I need to get back to the Black Lion before Zarkon gets to it first.”

“You’re right. Let’s get Lance to his lion,” Allura says, picking Lance up bridal-style and laughing when he gapes at her. She hurries back towards the Blue Lion and helps Lance into the cockpit. 

As soon as Shiro reaches the Black Lion, it opens its maw and allows him inside. Shiro notices the Red Lion lying still on Zarkon’s ship before anyone else does and charges towards the figure that hurtles towards Keith, brandishing a weapon. He knocks the figure out of the sky as Lance realizes that it’s Zarkon.

He growls in the back of his throat, low and deep, his mouth turning into a scowl. Allura puts a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch.

“Don’t,” She says, frowning. “You’ve fought enough battles today.”

Shiro lifts the Red Lion from its position on the ship and guides it through open space as the rest of the paladins fly back to the retreating Castle-ship.

“Let’s wormhole out of here,” Lance says as Allura exits the Blue Lion and rushes to the Holodeck to create a wormhole. He, along with his teammates, stay in their lions. A blue portal appears in front of the Castle, but as it begins to move forward, a loud shout echoes through the comms.

“You will not escape me, Altean Prince!” Haggar roars. 

The inky black quintessence streaks through the atmosphere and collides with the wormhole just as the Castle-ship enters it. The ship shudders violently, tossing the lions around violently.

“Coran, what’s happening?!” Shiro demands.

“The integrity of the wormhole is compromised!” Coran panics. “It’s breaking down!”

“What does _that_ mean?!” Pidge asks. 

“It means we have no control over where we’re headed!” Coran replies nervously. The Castle rocks back and forth, and suddenly, Blue roars and lurches backwards, towards the exposed part of her hangar that leads outside. 

“Oh, god,” Lance says. “Guys?!” He glances nervously at the Red Lion beside him.

And the vacuum of space pulls the Blue and Red Lions together, emphasizing the screech of two metals against one another as both lions are pulled out of the hangar together, both of their pilots screaming as they float through the wormhole aimlessly until they collide with the eerie cosmic walls and disappear.

“Allura!” Lance screams, his comms cutting out. His lion hurtles towards a planet, and he spots the Red Lion crashing onto the very same planet to his left. The Blue Lion is suddenly engulfed in flames, and Lance buries his face in his hands to brace for impact. His torso throbs from Haggar’s quintessence wound, and as he curls up to wait for the inevitable crashing into the planet, he squeezes his eyes shut in pain.

He waits for the crash as Blue free-falls towards the jungle terrain. The pain in his torso spreads from his head to his toes. He braces for impact, but inky blackness fills his vision, and his body falls limp before he can be thrown backward into his seat.

The world around him fades, turning into a hazy static as he falls unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> abshfns season one is OVER and so is my life holy shit. this hurt to write but i'm kinda proud of how it turned out!
> 
> im Desperate so pls leave kudos/comments/whatever and come scream about lance with me on tumblr (even though i'm never active) at kentuckykeiths! thanks for reading!!!!


	19. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance and Keith face the wilderness-- _together._

“Hello?” A voice asks over the comms, tired and rough. “Is anyone out there?”

Lance slowly blinks his eyes open and moves his hand so that it rests over his wound. “...Keith,” He responds hoarsely.

“Lance?” Keith asks. “That you?”

Lance tries to maneuver himself so that he can look around, but his stomach instantly lurches when his wound shifts even the slightest bit. He cries out quietly. “Yeah,” He says. 

“Where are you?” 

“I don’t know.”

Keith sighs. “Can you get out of your lion and see?”

“Zarkon’s witch, Haggar, injured me before we left. I can’t move.”

There’s a resigned sigh that sounds over the comms before Keith seemingly starts to run. “I’m coming to get you.”

“Is Blue even emitting a signal?” Lance asks weakly. He can’t even feel the Blue Lion’s presence in the back of his mind, and it’s starting to worry him; what if she’s permanently damaged?

“Yeah. It’s faint, but it’s there. I’m almost to you.”

Lance doesn’t respond. He waits for Keith to find him and closes his eyes, trying to focus on moving even slightly so that he can be of some use. There’s a sudden noise above him, some sort of thump that causes Blue to shudder. “Keith?” He asks. “Is that you?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna have to pry your lion’s jaws open.”

“Can’t you slip in through her teeth?” Lance asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I mean…” Keith trails off. “I’m not sure if I can get through in one piece.”

“Do you think she’s gonna hurt you or something?” Lance questions, sighing after he doesn’t receive a response. “She’s not going to eat you.”

“I don’t think she’s gonna eat me-!” Keith defends himself. “She’s a robot, she can’t even _eat--”_

“Dude, just slip past her teeth and get me out of here. I’m not bleeding, but I _am_ glowing purple, so please be understanding of the fact that I’m ever-so-slightly worried.”

“Okay, okay,” Keith grumbles, and suddenly, there’s a faint creaking sound followed by quick footsteps. 

The footsteps approach the cockpit, and Keith sighs in relief upon seeing Lance. He gasps, however, when he sees the gaping purple wound that stretches across Lance’s abdomen. 

“What did she _do_ to you?!”

“Oh, you know,” Lance grimaces. “The usual. Dragged flaming-hot quintessence across my torso and showed me how my parents died. A happy reunion, really.”

 _“Lance,”_ Keith says, approaching the boy and doing his best to lift him without hurting him any further. Lance grunts in pain. “I’m gonna get you out of here so we can find a shelter and I can try and clean your wound. That okay?”

“Yeah,” Lance manages, his abdomen throbbing even further.

“Are you going to be okay while I get supplies and stuff?” Keith asks as he carries Lance out of the Blue Lion, setting him down on the blue ground and making sure that his back rests against Blue’s paw. Lance nods.

“Yeah,” He says as Keith awaits an answer. “I’ll be okay. Go ahead.”

-

As it turns out, Lance is _not_ okay once Keith leaves. Something rattles in the bushes beside him, and Lance raises an eyebrow as he attempts to form his bayard.

It doesn’t work.

“What the hell?!” He whispers to himself, trying to materialize his rifle frantically. “No, no!”

And then the creature lunges.

Standing at what Lance guesses must be at _least_ four feet tall, the animal is eerily similar to a saber-toothed cat as it stares at Lance, drool hanging from its teeth. Its claws, which protrude from its huge paws, pin him to the ground, rendering him defenseless. Its fur is coarse and white, stained by dark red blood from what Lance guesses must be its most recent kill.

It growls at him, and Lance cringes. His helmet is back on his lion, and he fears that if he shouts or bares his neck, the creature will attack. Still unable to form his bayard, he raises what little he can of his arms and uses his hands to dig his fingers into the beast’s front legs.

Can he still do this? It can’t be any harder than feeding quintessence into the Balmera, can it?

He forces a little bit of quintessence to seep into the cat’s skin, forcing it to recoil, roaring loudly and bending its front half forward so that it can pounce onto Lance. He winces, realizing that he’ll have to use this quintessence sparingly if he doesn’t want to further injure himself.

“Okay, Lance,” He murmurs to himself. “What now?” He scrambles to his feet and holds his hand out defensively, and the cat growls once again.

He’s caught off guard when the beast leaps forward and pushes him to the ground once again, this time his armor digging painfully into his back and being jerked out from the wound it’s made when the cat clamps his leg in its mouth and shakes him violently. Lance cries out upon hearing the unfamiliar cracking noise that his left leg makes as pain shoots through his body.

This is it. He doesn’t want to hurt the beast, no matter how much pain it has caused him, but it’s do or die in this moment.

He doesn’t even know if he can still do this. Maybe it was just possible because of his fury, or maybe it was a one-time thing. No matter what, there’s always the chance that Lance can’t produce another round of quintessence like he did in his battle with Haggar. 

Lance gathers his quintessence and forces it through his palms, averting his eyes as the cat stares at him with wide, innocent eyes, its jaw open as the blue light hurtles towards it and hits its jaw, throwing it backwards into a tree. For a few seconds, the creature breathes heavily before letting out a quiet whine of pain. Lance’s heart breaks in half, and he tries to slowly crawl across the jungle floor _with a broken leg_ so that he can comfort it. The beast doesn’t protest when he gently lifts its head and puts it in his lap, running his hands over the coarse fur.

“Hey,” He says gently, knowing the cat must have only minutes left. He can feel its life force draining. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

Keith returns to see Lance running his hand through mounds of fur only moments after the beast has stopped breathing. “What happened?!” He asks. “Are you hurt?”

“It broke my leg,” Lance says meekly. “I had to kill it with quintessence.”

Keith pushes the cat off of Lance and helps him onto his feet--well, _foot--_ and begins to help Lance hop towards the makeshift shelter that he’s made. “We have food rations and medical supplies on our lions,” Keith says after helping Lance sit back down on the cold jungle floor. “I’ll get some stuff from Red and try to fix you up as best I can.”

He leaves, but returns in under five minutes, seemingly scared that Lance’s encounter with the beast will repeat itself. “You good?” Keith asks, beginning to set up a fire. 

“Yeah,” Lance says, his voice hoarse. “As good as I can be.” He winces and moves forward, his hand outstretched towards the twigs Keith uses to try and light a fire. “Here,” He says gently, firing a small bolt of quintessence through his fingertips. Suddenly, a small fire starts. 

“How did you do that?”

“Quintessence is hot,” Lance explains meekly, his stomach groaning as he speaks. “I figured it would probably start a fire.”

Keith nods, his lips pursed. “So what _is_ quintessence?”

“It’s…” Lance concentrates before realizing that he’s never actually heard a solid definition of quintessence, save for the explanation from that sentry that Pidge hacked. “In my terms, it’s life energy. If you run out of it or use to much of it, you die. Everyone has some.”

“Even humans?”

Lance nods. “I can feel it. I don’t know why--I think I kind of soak it up, like a sponge, because I’m a sacred Altean, like Allura and my mother. But the truth is… I don’t know much about this stuff. I only found out I was Altean a while ago.” He stares Keith in the eyes, knitting his eyebrows together. “Anyways… I think there are different quintessence types. Like, maybe one type for each of the Lions? Allura said something about it early on, but I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been back then.”

“The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion,” Keith remembers. “So you think I have… Red quintessence?”

“Yeah,” Lance sighs, squinting as he tries to find Keith’s quintessence. “It’s… Loud.”

“Loud?”

“You’re the only person I’ve seen with it, so I don’t really know for sure, but I think Red quintessence is bolder than the rest. Green is… Kind of passive, but still dominant. Yellow is… Warm? I dunno, it’s kind of comforting. Black is comforting, but not as much as Yellow is. And Blue is kind of fluid, like water.”

“And everyone else has quintessence that matches the color of their lion?”

Humming in affirmation, Lance begins to pick at his fingers. 

“What kinds do Allura and Coran have?”

“Allura is Blue,” Lance decides. “Coran is yellow.”

Keith tosses him some kind of Altean nutrition bar that he found in his Lion. Lance, starving, tears the package open with his teeth and bites off a portion of the bar hungrily. 

“I would’ve thought that Allura was Red,” Keith says passively. “She’s kind of impulsive, and she’s also really bold.”

“I would’ve thought so, too, but… I dunno. She inherits more from our mother than our Father. He built Voltron, y’know. And piloted the Red Lion.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Lance grins. Suddenly, his smile drops, replaced by a frown. “I saw the Red Lion roaring for him when Zarkon killed him, in Haggar’s projection that she showed me. It… Yeah. So I kind of assumed.”

Keith stares at him, apparently shocked by the monotonous morbidity of his statement.

“But, yeah. Dad was Red, and I think my mother was Blue. She didn’t pilot a lion, though. I think that’s why they worked well together--Dad was kind of headstrong, but Mom balanced them out.” Delirious with pain, Lance keeps talking. “‘Course, none of that matters anymore. Altea’s gone. So’s the rest of my family.”

“Lance,” Keith says slowly, unable to think of the proper words to say. “I can’t, uh, relate to the whole… Lost planet thing, but… I know what it’s like to be an orphan. And I’m here if you wanna talk.”

Lance takes another bite of his bar, trying to change the topic. “It’s nothing. Anyways, uh… I think I’m gonna die here.”

“What?!”

“You know the glowing purple wound in my stomach?” Lance asks, grimacing. “Yeah, it hurts like a bitch.”

He thinks back to Haggar, to her cold, glowing yellow eyes. In fact, they resembled the same eyes of the antagonist of the vision he’d been shown by his Lion.

“Rhodenus,” Lance says quietly. “Haggar possessed my Lion back on the ship when the Galran crystal took over. She killed me in a vision.”

“That was the day that…” Keith trails off, his eyes widening. “I don’t think any of us realized what you being Altean meant until now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it must have come as a complete shock. And you were probably super freaked out. That was the secret that you told me about the night Sendak attacked, wasn’t it?”

Lance nods. “I should’ve told all of you sooner. It would’ve been a lot better for me instead of, y’know, yelling at you guys for five minutes straight and then arguing with Pidge about whether or not I was lying.”

“I totally understand the whole ‘lost sibling rampage’ thing. When Shiro was declared dead by the Garrison, I nearly maimed Iverson. It’s why I was kicked out.”

Lance’s head swivels ‘round as he turns to look at Keith with wide eyes. “Really?”

Keith nods. “I had no idea you guys were brothers,” Lance continues.

“Not officially,” Keith says. “He’s actually my cousin. After my dad left, my aunt took me in. But we’re close enough to be brothers, so that’s what we call ourselves when anyone asks.”

“Huh,” Lance responds, nodding. “Makes sense.”

“Anyways, I’m sorry for how we reacted when you told us. I can’t hold myself accountable for everyone’s reactions, but… I know that we all should’ve been a lot kinder to you. Especially after all you’ve had to go through. I mean, you couldn’t even tell us. No wonder you’ve been acting strange since our first day of training.”

Lance grimaces. “Well… I guess it kind of helped, in a way--y’know, not being able to open up about anything. I matured way faster than I thought I would ever be able to.”

“That’s--that’s not a good thing, Lance,” Keith furrows his eyebrows. “You realize that, right?”

“I mean… I’ve gotta keep up with ‘Llura. And soon, once we start liberating planets, I have to learn the ins and outs of diplomatic relations. So, maybe maturing was good for me.”

Keith doesn’t answer, and the air around them grows stale. The only sound that Lance can hear is the ringing of his own ears and the crackling of the fire in front of him.

“Hey, are you--?” Keith pauses. “Lance?”

Lance’s eyelids droop until they’re closed, and the pain in his stomach begins to consume him, swallow him whole. 

“Come on, wake up! You’ve gotta stay awake, okay? Lance?”

He ignores Keith’s voice and allows himself to fall unconscious, if only to escape the pain.

-

“Good, you’re back.”

The harsh sun above peaks through the shade of the treetops, beating down on Lance. Sure, he’s had it worse, but this temperature is uncomfortably warm, even compared to the heat back home. 

“Listen, I know I’m the last person you’d want doing this, but I have to splint your leg. We can’t risk it healing the way it is.”

Lance blinks his eyes open. “What do you mean?” He asks tiredly, his words blending together from drowsiness. “Why would you be the last person I’d want?”

Keith raises an eyebrow, moving forward towards Lance’s injured leg. “Because you hate me,” He deadpans.

“I don’t hate you!” Lance protests. “We’ve been through this.”

“No?”

“Yeah? You know, I told you about Aleja, and--”

“That was your definition of being through--”

“Yes! We’re fine!”

“Clearly, we both have some underlying issues with each other, or we wouldn’t be shouting right now!”

“Just set my fucking leg, man!”

“You know what? Fine!” 

In hindsight, they shouldn’t have done this while fueled by anger; Keith’s knee is planted on Lance’s chest to keep him down, and the whole thing is over in a few seconds. He sets the bone back at its regular angle, twisting Lance’s leg to fit his definition of anatomy.

And when Lance screams, he _screams._

He’ll never admit it to anyone, not even Allura, but the blinding pain that shoots through his leg is even worse than the gaping wound in his stomach. In fact, the pain in his leg consumes the pain in his stomach as it staggers through his entire body. “Oh my god!” Lance shouts. “Oh my god, you fucking prick, I’m going to _die _here!”__

__“Lance!” Keith shouts back, trying to calm him. “You have to shut up!”_ _

__“No! Ow, ow, what the _fuck,_ man?!”_ _

__“Lance, _shut up!"_ Keith says finally, loudly and aggressively enough to make Lance promptly follow his orders. “You’re not going to die. I’m sorry that I had to splint your leg, but if I hadn’t, you would’ve been in a lot more pain than you’re in now.”_ _

__Lance doesn’t really pay attention to what he’s saying, but his voice is somewhat soothing, like white noise. He wipes the tears he didn’t even know he’d been shedding away with his hand, staring at the sky through the tops of the trees. “Fuckin’ hurts,” He says, the pain starting to make his words slur together. There are black spots in the edges of his vision, and Lance honestly can’t quite remember what he’s doing on this planet, anyways. He feels tired, ready to sleep for a long, long time._ _

__“Are you…?” Keith asks, his voice sounding far off. “Shit.” And suddenly, Lance’s face burns._ _

__“Did you just slap me?” He asks, his eyebrows knitting together._ _

__“How else was I supposed to keep you awake?”_ _

__“Set my leg and then slap me awake when I try to pass out,” Lance mutters, grinning. “How’s that for a bonding moment?”_ _

__At least Keith cracks a smile at that._ _

__“Do you think it’d help if I cleaned your wound? Would that do anything?” Keith asks quietly, staring at the purple wound._ _

__“Dunno. Can’t hurt to try, though,” Lance shrugs. Keith nods and gets the Altean medical kit that he found on his Lion._ _

__“Hey, this stuff will work well on you,” Keith realizes, holding the kit up to show its Altean origins._ _

__“Maybe not, though. It could be expired.”_ _

__“True,” Keith says, uncapping what must be a bottle of disinfectant and applying a generous amount to Lance’s wound._ _

__“Okay, no, I lied--” Lance grits his teeth, “it can hurt _insanely._ Jesus.”_ _

__“It’s losing some of its purple color. D’you think that means anything?”_ _

__“Dunno, probably,” Lance grunts. “This feels like you’re slathering hand sanitizer on it. _Ouch.__ _

__“Sorry,” Keith frowns. “We’ve gotta take precautions. We don’t know--”_ _

__“Wait,” Lance says, sitting up. He hisses when his wound moves with him, his hands flying forward to shield it. “Do you hear that?”_ _

__“Hear what?”_ _

__“That buzzing noise. Like, an engine or something.”_ _

__And then he feels it. The faint presence of blue quintessence in the back of his mind grows stronger, until suddenly, it’s right above him. He lifts his head and looks up. “The Castle!” He shouts. “It’s a wormhole!”_ _

__“Wait, I think I hear it too,” Keith says, standing. He helps Lance to his feet. “Can you walk?”_ _

__“On one foot, yeah.” Lance hobbles forward. "Hey, Keith?"_ _

__"Yeah?"_ _

__"I think this was kind of fun. Minus the part where we were screaming and I was dying."_ _

__Keith says nothing for a few seconds as he helps Lance into Red. And then, he turns his head, a small smile evident on his face._ _

__"Yeah," He says fondly, and _dear god,_ Lance's heart is going to explode-- "me, too."_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally have no excuse for not updating in a literal month im just a bad person soz :/


	20. Interface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance reminisces.

For some reason, to Lance, falling out of the cryopod feels unnaturally familiar, even though he’s only been in a healing pod one other time. He steadies himself on the door of the cryopod and slowly steps out, raising his head and realizing that there’s no one in the med bay. He shrugs and thinks to himself that everyone must be on the Holodeck. 

As he starts to exit the med bay, he notices Shiro in a cryopod and checks his stats. The pod says he should be out in a few hours, cueing a frown from Lance as he turns and exits the med bay. 

“We should be safe for the next few days. We need to allow Lance and Shiro time to--”

Lance grins as he enters the holodeck. “You called?” He asks. He runs a hand through his hair and notices that his circlet is gone. “All right, who stole my circlet?”

“Lance!” Allura grins at him, stepping off her podium and rushing to his side so that she can help him walk. “I’m glad you’re awake. We were worried about you.” She fishes something out of a pocket in her dress and hands it to Lance, prompting an appreciative smile from him as he recognizes his circlet and takes it from her.

She raises an eyebrow. “Does it glow every time you put it on?”

Lance tilts his head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just since I’ve been away from it for a while. How long was I in the healing pod?”

 

“Two days. It would’ve been just one, but considering you broke your leg…”

“I have an angry tiger creature to thank for that.” Allura helps him over to the center of the room, where he takes a seat and waits for his legs to begin functioning normally again. “So what have we been doing?”

“Mainly repairing the Castle,” Pidge supplies. “That battle took a lot out of us, even if we _did_ have the particle barrier helping. We’ve got minor repairs to make all over the place.”

“Huh,” Lance nods. “Anything that I can do?”

“Well,” Allura says, nodding thoughtfully, “yes. You can help me.”

“With what?”

“You’re going to show me exactly what you did to Haggar, because I’ve only ever seen that kind of quintessence manipulation from Mother--and even _she_ was unable to produce pure quintessence.”

“I don’t know what happened!” Lance says exasperatedly. “I was angry. She showed me visions of Mom and Dad, and I kind of… Flipped out. I remember being in the astral plane, and that she was screaming at me about pure quintessence, but not much beyond that.”

“He used quintessence when we crashed, too,” Keith adds from across the room, walking over and standing near Allura’s podium. “He killed a creature that was attacking him with it, and he also used it to start a fire.”

“You started a fire?!” Allura asks, raising an eyebrow. “How much quintessence have you been manipulating? You should be resting!”

“I’m fine,” Lance reassures her, shaking his head. “I swear.”

“No.” Allura helps him to his feet and ushers Lance towards the door, ignoring Lance’s struggling.

“C’mon, ‘Llura! I’m fine!” Lance protests as Allura drags him towards his room. “Hunk, help!” He calls pathetically. “Tell her that I’m fine!”

“Sorry, buddy,” Hunk shrugs. “Allura’s word overrules mine. It’s sibling privilege.”

 _“I’m the older sibling!”_ Lance shouts. “I’m older than Allura by, like, half a year! So, there!”

“I was born first. I’m older in spirit.”

“But technically, I’m older. Pidge, I’m right, aren’t I?” Lance complains. 

Pidge stares at him, unamused. “I mean, _yes,_ Lance is older if you think in terms of age. But in terms of being born first… Sorry, Lance, but Allura has about sixteen years on you.”

“What I’m hearing is ‘Lance is older,’” Lance grins. “So technically, I am ranked higher than you, and because I am Prince Lance of Altea, I command you to stop trying to get me to rest.”

Allura stares at him for a good few seconds, assessing him. Finally, she pushes him forward once more, mercilessly deciding, “No.”

“I give up,” Lance cedes, sighing heavily and earning a quiet laugh from Allura as she finally drags him out of sight.

“Now,” Allura says, helping him into his room and setting him on his bed. “Are you okay? I know the circumstances when you put on your circlet certainly weren’t the best.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lance nods, somewhat touched that Allura is asking. “I mean, it was incredibly painful, but… I’m glad I did it. I finally have everything out in the open--no more secrets. And the fact that I look Altean now gives me chance to reconnect with everything.”

“You’re going to have to train to be a diplomat,” Allura says, a small smile on her face. “Coran and I will have to train you.”

 _“Please,”_ Lance scoffs. “I’m the _best_ diplomat.”

“Prove it.”

“Your Highness,” Lance says, mocking every diplomat he’s ever heard of, “it is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Prince Lance of Altea, the Blue Paladin of Voltron, and these are my comrades: the Paladins of Voltron and my sister, Princess Allura of Altea. We eagerly look forward to discussing your participation in the Voltron Alliance.” He finishes his spiel with an enthusiastic (and overdramatic) half-bow, grinning widely as he sits back up. 

Allura laughs for a few seconds before regaining her composure. “That’s actually a nice introduction, but could you possibly remove the sarcastic tone from it?”

Lance shakes his head and snickers. “Then no one will be able to admire my wit and charm.”

“Good thing you don’t have any,” Allura grins, standing up to leave. “Get some rest. And don’t tell me you aren’t tired--I can see the bags under your eyes.” She says, tapping her finger on the control panel that rests on the wall. The lights overhead slowly dim and flicker out, and Allura exits the room. 

Lance sighs, knowing that Allura is right, but refusing to acknowledge the fact. He burrows under his blankets, finding the room’s temperature to be slightly colder than usual, and stares up at the ceiling boredly. He knows that if he exits his room and attempts to aid Allura in repairing the Castle, she’ll force him back into bed.

So he ponders, his mind wandering as his eyes begin to droop. He thinks about his family, both human _and_ biological, as well as his friends. They seem to be taking the news that he’s Altean relatively well, but Lance still feels anxious when he merely _thinks_ about discussing it with anyone other than Allura and Coran. 

How can he know with certainty that the others don’t look at him differently now? They’ve had mere days to come to terms with it; Lance has probably had weeks. Months, even. What if everyone is afraid of him? What if they no longer trust him?

As unconsciousness washes over him, the small voice in the back of his mind screams out its worries, waiting to be heard when Lance wakes.

-

 _“Interface,”_ the strangely familiar voice says, raspy and hoarse. _“Locate--”_

The rest of the voice’s sentence distorts into a garbled mess, but somewhere in the jumble of incomprehensible words, Lance hears the word _Altea,_ spoken in a far lower pitch. 

_“Interface!”_ The voice screams, _“Locate Altea!”_

 _“Altea! Altea! Altea!”_ Shrieks the voice, the sound becoming nearer and farrer as if its owner is being thrown around. _“Locate Altea!”_

The voice wails its command one last time before white light floods Lance’s vision, and suddenly, he bolts upright in his bed, panting heavily.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, his stomach coils, as if he subconsciously knows exactly what the dream meant. Its real meaning, however, escapes him.

He forces himself out of bed and finds that his regular jacket, shirt, and jeans are strewn haphazardly around the corner of his room, and he silently thanks himself for leaving them there as he carries the clothes into his bathroom and changes out of the cryostasis suit. Without thinking, he glares at it with vitriol, a scowl appearing on his face as he realizes that he must have been dressed in one of these suits when he was in stasis ten thousand years ago.

Sighing, he shakes his head, rubs his eyes, and exits his room, stepping out into the hallway and squinting when he sees the bright white lights. After his vision readjusts, he steps forward, only to freeze and go rigid.

Interface? Why would his dreams use that term? Does the Castle have anything akin to an interface?

“Allura?” Lance asks, wandering onto the Holodeck, where he knows Allura will be. His sister turns to acknowledge him. 

“Yes, Lance?”

 

“Does this Castle have some sort of interface?” 

“Yes, actually!” Coran interrupts. “I helped to install it! It responds to anyone whose genetics have been manually entered into the interface, but your father made sure anyone who regularly visited the Castle had access--”

“Coran,” Allura smiles. “Yes, as Coran said, we _do_ have an interface. It could use some… Updating, after ten thousand years, but it has enough general data to inform the public about matters. Father mainly used it while talking to diplomats from other planets.” She raises an eyebrow. “Why, exactly?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering.”

Lance has no idea why he lies; the words slip out faster than he can bite down on his tongue to restrict them. Allura, unconvinced, looks at him skeptically.

“I want to look at records of planets and see if I can brush up on Altean culture. I’d like to know my history,” Lance reasons. “Plus, if I research different planets, I have a better chance of being a good diplomat.”

“Fair enough,” Coran nods thoughtfully, stepping forward towards the door. “This way, my boy. It’s near the room where your Father’s AI was kept!”

Lance knows that the comment was meant to be lighthearted and informative, but he still winces.

“What about Allura’s father?” Pidge asks, entering the room. Her face is covered in a bright blue powder that even dusts her glasses. 

“And Lance’s father too, thank you,” Lance frowns, unimpressed. It may take the team a bit of time to get them to remember that he’s Alfor’s son, too. “Did you go messing around in the Castle again?”

“No!” Pidge defends herself. “Hunk and I were trying to fix--” Suddenly, she sneezes, and a blue cloud of dust puffs out in front of her. Lance snickers.

“You’ve got a little something,” he says, gesturing towards Pidge’s face. “Everywhere. It’s everywhere.”

“Come on, Lance,” Coran says, beckoning him into the hallway. “And while we’re in that area of the Castle, I’ll see if I can find any traditional Altean clothing for you!”

“Oh, no, Coran; that won’t be necessary,” Allura says. “Father left him a small box full of anything he may need. It’s in my room.”

“Oh, I forgot about that!” Lance exclaims, remembering the picture that featured Allura and his infant self. He wants to hang it on his wall--he had a collage full of family pictures in his dorm back at the Garrison, but he only has photos on his phone, now, and even _that_ is running out of battery. “Can I come and get it later? I wanna look through it.”

“Of course!” Allura says, the corner of her lip curling upward. “I hope you know that means you now have no excuse _not_ to wear Altean royal clothing. No more wearing that musty old jacket.”

“Oh, are you going to make Lance wear robes and stuff?!” Pidge asks excitedly. “He’ll hate it! This is amazing.”

“Shut it, Pidge,” Lance pouts, glaring at Allura. “I’m keeping the jacket.”

Coran ends up going off on a tangent as they walk, then forgets to show Lance the Castle’s interface completely. He bids Lance farewell when they stop in the middle of the hallway and walks away, a spring in his step. Realizing that he's outside of Allura’s room, he steps inside to retrieve the box that he'd been given so long ago. 

The box is nestled in the corner of Allura’s closet, and Lance heaves it upwards with as much strength as he can manage. He manages to haul the box into his bedroom, wondering how in the world Allura could possibly have lifted the box with such ease. It feels more like a dumbbell than anything else. 

After setting the box on his bed, he pulls the white lid off and lets it thump onto the ground. When he looks inside of the box--the _crate,_ even--he winces, instantly greeted with the sight of the pictures and the note his father left for him. Folded neatly beneath the familiar items are sets of Altean clothes.

Lance gingerly pulls two garments out, setting the photos and his note on his pillow as he stands and unfolds the clothes. 

The first outfit is alarmingly similar to Allura’s usual dress, but it has pants and a slightly longer cloak that reaches his calf at its longest points. The interior of the cape is blue and gold as opposed to Allura’s pink and white. 

The other outfit is a set of almost completely white and gold robes, featuring only a few blue details for what Lance guessed are purely aesthetic purposes. There's a note pinned to the lapel that takes a moment for Lance to process. 

It's in Altean, but he reads it quickly, as if he's fluent in the language. Perhaps he was taught Altean as a child and has simply forgotten?

 _”For formal, diplomatic occasions only,”_ reads the note. He double checks the other outfit and finds an additional note pinned onto its front as well. 

_”Traditional Royal wear.”_

Lance shrugs, frowning, and sets the clothes aside to dig around for the remaining contents of the box. It's still halfway full, and from what Lance can see, inside lies a large book, a picture of Altea’s juniberries, and… A necklace.

Confused, Lance reaches into the box and pulls out the necklace, letting the pendant lie in his palm as the rest of the golden chain sways back and forth. The small, intricately-designed pendant is just as gold as the chain, but it seems to be some sort of locket. Lance presses on the part that protrudes from the side and watches as the pendant splits in half, the top part flying out to the side. 

Suddenly, a wave of energy seems to wash over him.

Lance recoils before realizing that the energy is _quintessence._ It’s pure quintessence. Lance knits his eyebrows together and closes the locket, gently setting it down on his pillow as if he might break it. He pulls the final item out of the box: a heavy, large blue book.

He catches his thumbnail in between the first few pages and flips open the book. He realizes that it’s some sort of family photo album a few pages in after he sees a series of pictures of Allura with red hearts messily drawn around them, presumably by a young Allura.

He stares at a few pictures and finally sees a photo of his mother as she laughs at someone off the camera. He smiles at the photo with fondness in his eyes for the woman he hardly knows, but freezes as he sees a familiar chain that hangs around her neck.

It’s the same necklace that was in the box.

The necklace had once belonged to his mother.

His hand immediately snatches the necklace from its pillow, and without thinking, he unclasps the chain and fastens it around his neck. Sighing shakily, one hand clutching the pendant of the necklace and the other reaching out to brush the photo of Arin with his fingertips, a hollow, empty feeling centers itself in his chest and spreads to the rest of his body.

And once the first tear streaks down his face, there’s no stopping the rest.

How did Alfor get the necklace?! Lance flips through the album and concludes that there aren’t any photos of his mother without the necklace, meaning that she likely never removed it.

Which means his father would have had to remove the necklace after collecting her corpse.

“Lance?” Hunk asks, walking into his room unannounced. “Allura said to tell you that Shiro is awake--” He freezes, eyes widening as he registers that Lance is crying. 

“Buddy,” Hunk says softly, letting the door slide shut behind him as he takes a seat next to Lance and wraps his arm around Lance’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Lance can’t think of a coherent answer; all that’s on his mind right now is the sight of his parents as the life left their eyes, as they bled out and slowly died, as _Haggar and Zarkon_ let them die.

So instead, he gasps in a staccato breath, removing his hand from the necklace around his neck and bringing it up to his mouth to cover it. He feels sick to his stomach, but he’s too tired to move, so he ignores the constricting feeling in his stomach and cries harder.

“Is that…” Hunk trails off, seeing the necklace on Lance and comparing it to the one in his mother’s photos. “That’s your mother.”

“She killed my mom,” Lance says, voice hoarse. “The witch. She showed me her memory of… Of letting her leg be crushed under a collapsing building. I had to watch as she stabbed my mother and _laughed_ when Mom begged her not to harm Allura and I.”

“Oh, Lance,” Hunk says, raising his other arm so that he can properly comfort Lance with a trademarked Hunk hug. Lance leans into the embrace.

“And she showed me Zarkon’s memory of killing Dad, too. He bled out. I watched the light fade from his eyes, Hunk. I can’t…” Lance dissolves into another round of tears. “They both begged them not to harm Allura and I. They cared for us _so much!_ How could they betray us like that?! We were a _family!”_ Lance suddenly shouts, shrinking back into himself when he realizes the volume of his voice. “We were a family,” he repeats, his voice softer. “They took everything away from me. And--and they nearly got Allura, too.”

Hunk just hugs him tighter. “I can never relate to what you’re going through,” Hunk says, his voice quiet, as if he’s scared he’ll anger Lance. Lance doesn’t blame him; his emotions have been unpredictable lately. “But I know that it’ll get better. It may get harder before it gets easier, but one day, you’ll be able to remember Altea and think of how great it was instead of the horrible things that happened.”

“How soon, though?” Lance croaks. 

“I don’t know. Just remember that your parents loved you; that’s why your dad sent you to Earth. He wanted you to live a better life.”

“You’re right,” Lance sighs, pulling away from Hunk’s embrace and wiping his tears away. He sniffs, and suddenly, Hunk takes notice of the clothes that lie on his bed.

“Oh, cool, do you get, like, alien clothes now?”

“Yeah, Hunk, I’m an alien,” Lance deadpans, raising an eyebrow. He smirks.

“What are you waiting for?” Hunk says, pushing Lance to his feet and shoving the traditional wear into Lance’s arms. “Go! I wanna see you dressed up like a prince!”

“I _am_ a prince!” Lance groans, but complies, dragging himself into his bathroom and changing for the second time that day.

“Well?”

“Okay,” Lance calls, unable to contain his mirth as he steps out of the bathroom with a smile, his cape dancing behind him as he walks.

 _“Dude!”_ Hunk says, grinning. “That’s so cool! Now, you’re matching with Allura!”

“Sure,” Lance grins. “Speaking of Allura, what did she want you to tell me?”

Hunk nods, “She told me to get you and tell you that Shiro is awake. We’re discussing the Galra who--”

“Lance, Hunk, you’re needed on Level 5 immediately! There’s an intruder in the Castle!” Allura’s voice booms over the loudspeaker. “He’s near your room, Lance, in the west corridor!”

Lance tightens his jaw and wordlessly races out of his room, hands already beginning to glow blue with quintessence as he sprints towards the intruder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have a lil chapter a few hours before season five releases!! if black paladin lance doesn't become canon i'll shoot myself in the leg but if we don't get confirmation that shiro (kuron) is a clone i'll launch myself into the sun. enjoy!


End file.
